Franz Werfel (1890-1945) was an Austrian-Jewish writer and humanist, who served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I. One of his most famous novels was “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh,” published in 1933. The fictional story is based on the real-life self-defense of Armenian villagers from surrounding Musa Dagh/Musa Ler/Mountain of Moses in the summer of 1915 against Ottoman troops. The Armenians resisted and defended themselves for 53 days while on the mountain. The surviving Armenian villagers were saved by the French navy and transported to safety at Port Said, Egypt.
In 1934, the novel received the international award for “Best Novel of the Year.” It has since been translated into 20 languages.