bio notes:
born: 05/03/1890
died: 3/27/1969
born as: Berkick Traven

Novelist noted as a writer of adventure stories and as a chronicler of rural life in Mexico. A recluse, Traven refused personal data to publishers; hence many theories have arisen as to his parentage, his nationality, and his general identity. Most of his books were originally written in German and were first published in Germany. - Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature

Because he was so deliberately deceptive in his identity, Traven is probably the most enigmatic major novelist of modern times. He may have been born Otto Feige in the town of Schweibus (now in Poland) on February 22, 1882. He is usually considered the same person as the early 20th Century traveling stage actor and director Ret Marut, as well as the much later individual Hal Croves, who held the copyright to Traven's works and on the set of the film *The Treasure of the Sierra Madre* claimed to represent the author. After his death in 1969, Croves's widow allegedly read from his will that he was born on May 3, 1890.