Elisabeth Langgässer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Elisabeth Langgässer
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| Born | 23 February 1899 Alzey, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire
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| Died | 25 July 1950 (aged 51) |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Partner(s) | Hermann Heller |
| Children | Cordelia Edvardson |
Elisabeth Langgässer (born February 23, 1899 – died July 25, 1950) was a German writer and teacher. She is well-known for her beautiful poems and novels. One of her short stories, Saisonbeginn, tells a powerful story about a German village in the 1930s. This village put up a sign that said Jewish people were not allowed to enter.
Contents
Early Life and Career
Elisabeth Langgässer was born in Alzey in 1899. She grew up in a middle-class Catholic family. In 1922, she became a school teacher.
Later, Elisabeth had a relationship with Hermann Heller. Their daughter, Cordelia, was born in 1929. Because of this, Elisabeth lost her job as a teacher.
Writing During the Weimar Republic
After losing her teaching job, Elisabeth Langgässer focused on becoming a full-time writer. From 1924 onwards, she published many poems and reviews.
Her writing style was often called Naturmagie, which means "nature magic." This style showed a magical feeling within nature. She was part of a group of writers who published their work in a journal called Die Kolonne between 1929 and 1932. Other writers in this "nature magic" group included Günter Eich and Peter Huchel.
Challenges During the Third Reich
Elisabeth Langgässer became a member of the Reichsschrifttumskammer, which was the Reich Chamber of Literature. This was a Nazi organization that controlled who could publish books.
In 1935, Elisabeth married Wilhelm Hoffman. They had three daughters together. However, Elisabeth was later classified as a "half-Jew" by the Nazis. This was because some of her father's family had Jewish roots.
Because of this, she was removed from the Reich Chamber of Literature. She tried to appeal this decision, writing to important Nazi officials like Hans Hinkel and Goebbels. In her letters, she pointed out that her mother's family was "pure Aryan" (meaning not Jewish). She also mentioned that a Jewish writer, Alfred Döblin, had criticized her work, hoping this would show she was not connected to Jewish culture.
Her marriage to Wilhelm Hoffman, who was not Jewish, helped protect Elisabeth from being sent away. However, her daughter Cordelia, whose father was Jewish, was not as lucky. Cordelia was only 15 years old when she was sent to the Theresienstadt camp and then to Auschwitz in 1944. Luckily, Cordelia survived. She was part of an exchange where camp prisoners were traded for German prisoners in Sweden.
Post-War Years and Legacy
After World War II, Elisabeth Langgässer wrote and published a lot of new works. Her most famous books came out shortly after the war ended. She became known as an author of the Inner emigration. This term describes writers who stayed in Germany during the Nazi rule and disagreed with Nazi ideas, but did not openly speak out against them.
Elisabeth continued to write until just before she passed away from multiple sclerosis on July 25, 1950. After her death, she was given the Georg Büchner Prize in 1950. This is a very important German literary award.
After her death, Elisabeth Langgässer received a lot of attention. Her books became very popular right after the war. Her letters were also published by her husband in 1954. These letters give us a look into how the Nuremberg Laws (Nazi laws against Jewish people) affected her family from 1933 to 1945. Her granddaughter, Elisabeth Hoffmann, republished these letters in 1990.
Elisabeth Langgässer's daughter, Cordelia, later had several children with a Swedish Protestant man. Cordelia moved to Israel in 1973 and wrote a powerful book about her experiences called Burnt Child Seeks the Fire.
See also
In Spanish: Elisabeth Langgässer para niños
