Anna Seghers

Life

Anna Seghers is the single child of the merchant of art Isidor Reiling and his Hedwig wife (born Fuld); the family asserts itself Jewish orthodoxe has Magenza. However the book more snuffed by Anna Seghers in the family library of Reiling is the bible of Luther. She attends initially a private school then the college of young girls. During the First World War, it is used for the service of the armies. In 1920 it makes a success of the baccalaureat. Then she studies with Cologne and Heidelberg the history, the Histoire of art and the Sinologie. In 1924 it obtains its doctorate at the university of Heidelberg with a thesis on Juifs and judeity in the work of Rembrandt .

In 1925 it marries the Hungarian sociologist László Radványi. They have two children. The couple moves in Berlin, where is born in 1926 their Peter son. One of its first publications, the account Grubetsch appears in 1927 under the pseudonym of Seghers (without first name) and the critics think that the author is a man. It chose its pseudonym by admiration for works of the painter and Flemish engraver Hercules Seghers.

In 1928 is born his/her Ruth daughter. This same year appears also its first book under the pseudonym of Anna Seghers the Insurrection of the fishermen of St-Barbara ( Aufstand DER Fischer von St Barbara ). On proposal of Hans Henny Jahnn, this first novel is crowned by the price Kleist (It will be carried to the screen, in 1934, by the playwright Erwin Piscator). Also in 1928, it joined the German Communist party (KPD) and the following year it is member founder of the Union of the revolutionary proletarian writers. In 1930 it travels for the first time in Soviet Union. After the takeover by the National-Socialists (Nazis) Anna Seghers is stopped by the slackened Gestapo then; its books are prohibited in Germany and flarings. Shortly after she flees in Suisse and from there joined Paris.

In exile she collaborates in the newspapers of German emigrants; she forms part inter alia drafting of the " Neuen Deutschen Blätter " . In 1935, it is one of the founders of the Union of defense of the German writers in Paris. After the beginning of the Second world war and the entry of the German troops in Paris, the husband of Seghers is interned in the south of France to the camp of the Vernet. Anna Seghers succeeds has to flee with his/her two children of Paris occupied towards the southern zone managed by Pétain. With Marseilles, she is concerned with release of her husband and possibilities of fleeing abroad. This time forms the screen of the novel Transit (appeared in 1944).

In March 1941, Anna Seghers and its family succeed in rejoining Mexico City via the Martinique, New York and Veracruz. Her husband, who meanwhile took the German name of Johann-Lorenz Schmidt, there finds work initially at the University of the workers then at the National university. Anna Seghers founds the club antifascist Heinrich-Heine of which it is president. With Ludwig Renn it launches the free movement Germany ( Freies Deutschland ) as well as the newspaper of the same name. In 1942 its novel appears which will remain probably most famous the seventh cross ( Das siebte Kreuz ) in English edition in the United States and German edition in Mexico. The novel describes the horror of the camps hitlériens of pre-war period.

In June 1943 Anna Seghers is seriously wounded at the time of an traffic accident and is obliged to make a long stay at the hospital. In 1944 Fred Zinnemann puts Das siebte Kreuz in images. Successes of the book and film make Anna Seghers famous in the whole world.

In 1947 Seghers leaves Mexico City and goes back to Berlin; she lives initially in West Berlin like member of the German Socialist party unified ( Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands ). This year there it gains the Büchner Price. In 1950 she moves in East Berlin. She becomes member of the World council of peace and is member founder of the German Academy of arts . In 1951 it receives the national price of the German Democratic republic (RDA) and undertakes a voyage in Popular republic of China. In 1952 she is elected president of the Union of the writers of GDR and will remain it until 1978. In 1955 Anna Seghers and her husband move in the street Volkswohl with number 81 (it is the street Anna-Seghers today) in the district of Adlershof where they will remain until their death. This apartment shelters today the Anna-Seghers-Gedenkstätte , a museum dedicated to the life and the work of auteure.

When in 1957 a lawsuit for Trahison counter-revolutionary is brought with Walter Janka, the director of the publisher which publishes its works, it keep silent himself. The attempt to intervene in the shade near Walter Ulbricht shows a failure. In the same way she says word during the exclusion of Heiner Müller 1961 of the Union of the writers] neither during expulsion in FRG of Wolf Biermann 1976 nor during exclusions of new critical authors of the Union of the writers in 1979. In 1975 it receives the Price of the culture of the World council of peace and is distinguished like citizen from honor from East Berlin. In 1978 it gives up the presidency of the union of the writers of which it becomes president of honor. The same year dies her husband. In 1981 Anna Seghers receives the citizenship of honor of its birthplace Mainz.

Anna Seghers dies on June 1st 1983. A decree organizes its burial with the Academy of arts in the Dorotheenstädtischen cemetery with Berlin.

Works

The works written in GDR in years 1950 and 1960 are representative of the socialist Réalisme : fidelities with the party, schematism of the characters, admiration without terminal of Stalin are the essential components. But the posterior writings keep their literary richness. Until a advanced age Seghers preserves a narrative freshness which takes as a starting point the Renaissance, of Eastern Asia, the Caribbean or Mexico, beyond all the stereotypes.

1925 - Jans will die (Jans muss sterben) presentation of Pierre Radvanyi; translation of German and postface of Helene Roussel. Paris Editions Differently, 2001 (overdraft by Pierre Radvanyi in its succession after its death)
1928 - the Revolt of the fishermen of Holy-Barbara (Aufstand DER Fischer von St Barbara)
1930 - Auf dem Wege zur amerikanischen Botschaft und andere Erzählungen
1932 - the Companions (Die Gefährten)
1933 - Capitation (Der Kopflohn)
1935 - the Way of February (Der Weg durch den Februar)
1937 - Die Rettung
1940 - Die schönsten Sagen vom Räuber Woynok. Sagen von Artemis
1942 - the seventh cross (Das siebte Kreuz)
1943 - Der Ausflug DER toten Mädchen
1944 - Transit
1948 - Sowjetmenschen. Lebensbeschreibungen nach ihren Berichten
1949 - deaths remain young (Die Toten bleiben jung)
1949 - Die Hochzeit von Haiti
1950 - Die Linie
1950 - Der Kesselflicker
1951 - Crisanta
1951 - the Children (Die Kinder)
1952 - Der Mann und center Name
1953 - Der Bienenstock
1958 - Brot und Salz
1959 - Die Entscheidung
1961 - Das Licht auf dem Galgen
1963 - Über Tolstoi. Über Dostojewski
1965 - the Force of weak (Die Kraft der Schwachen) the
1967 - This blue exactly (Das wirkliche Blau). Eine Geschichte aus Mexiko
1968 - Das Vertrauen
1969 - Glauben year Irdisches
1970 - Briefe year To injure
1970 - Über Kunstwerk und Wirklichkeit
1971 - Überfahrt. Eine Liebesgeschichte
1977 - Steinzeit. Wiederbegegnung
1980 - Drei Frauen aus Haiti
1990 - DER gerechte Richter (finished in 1957, but not published for political reasons)

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