Vicki Baum was born as Hedwig Baum to a Jewish family in Vienna. Trained as a musician in her youth, Baum studied the harp at the Vienna Conservatory and played in a German orchestra for three years. She is best known for her novels Stud. chem. Helene Willfüer (1928) and Menschen im Hotel (1929). The English translation of the latter as Grand Hotel (1932) inspired the Academy Award-winning Hollywood film of the same name. This Hollywood adaptation, along with the numerous translations of Menschen im Hotel, brought Baum international fame.