Colin Ross

Colin Ross (German: Colin Roß, 4 June 1885 – 29 April 1945) was an Austrian travel writer and film-maker. He was a considered a "household name" during the interwar period. Between 1910 and 1945, he published 35 books, six films, and around 1,200 articles.

Early life and education

Born in Vienna, he served for one year in the Bavarian Field Artillery, after which he studied engineering in Berlin and economics and history in Munich and Heidelberg. His name—unusual for an Austrian—is said to result from his British (specifically Scottish) ancestry.

Career

In 1913 he worked as a war reporter in the Balkan War between the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, and in the Mexican Civil War. He continued working as a journalist during the First World War, and also served as a first lieutenant (Oberleutnant) on the Russian front, where he was wounded. He then worked in the propaganda department of the Supreme Army Command.

After the German revolution of 1918 and 1919, he worked as a military advisor to the Executive Council of the Workers' and Soldiers' Soviets.

He travelled to South America, starting in Argentina followed by Chile, then Bolivia. He worked as a travel writer and travel filmmaker, shooting with a Bamberg-Askania camera. One of his best known films was 1926's Around the World With a Movie Camera. With his family, he visited every continent except Antarctica, with the travels financed by film and camera manufacturers. He often reworked the same material in multiple publications, and his work was widely syndicated. His third major journey was from winter 1923 to late September 1924, visiting the United States, the Pacific, East Asia and South Asia, resulting in multiple travel books. At the time, the travelogue was a novel and popular format.