Eduard Frank was born circa 1905 to a Catholic family in historical Sudetenland, now part of the Czech Republic. Frank received a Ph.D. from the University of Vienna and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Commerce of Vienna. He worked as a grammar school teacher in historical Czechoslovakia until World War II, when he was drafted into the German army. After the war, Frank was forced from Czechoslovakia alongside others considered to be German, eventually settling in Germany. Frank resumed his teaching in Germany and authored one book titled Gustav Meyrink, Werk und Wirkung (1957) and served as editor on another book, Das Haus zur letzten Latern: Nachgelassenes und Verstreutes (1973).

Joseph Brod was born in Vienna of historical Austria-Hungary to a Jewish family on June 2, 1908. In the late 1930s, Brod was taken into Nazi custody and held at the Dachau concentration camp for many months, where he maintained infrequent correspondence with his father, Emil Brod. Joseph married Martha Brod and worked as a cost accountant administrator for various employers throughout his life, such as Wards. His work brought him to places such as Shanghai and Manila, and eventually to the United States. Joseph and Martha Brod moved multiple times between Chicago, Illinois and San Diego, California. After retiring from accounting, Joseph Brod engaged in some scholarship and translations for works written in German. Joseph Brod died on September 18, 2001.