Seghers,Anna b. November 19, 1900; Mainz, Hesse d.July 1, 1983; East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Important German author who was forced to leave Nazi Germany in 1933 and went into exile in Mexico. Netty Reiling, who
later adopted the name Anna Seghers, was born into an orthodox Jewish family.
In 1920 Reiling began studies in art history and sinology at Heidelberg University, where she graduated four years later. Her dissertation, entitled Jude undJudentum im Werk Rembrandts (Jews and Judaism in the Work of Rembrandt), explored what would become a central question in her later fiction: the relationship of the portrait to reality. A few weeks after her graduation, she published her first story, Die Toten auf der Insel Djal (The Dead on the Island Djal), in the Christmas edition of the Frankfurter Zeitung (Frankfurt News). In 1925, Reiling married the Hungarian writer and philosopher Laszlo Radvanyi (later Johan-Lorenz Schmidt) and moved with him to Berlin, where they lived until forced to flee Germany in 1933.Throughout her life, Seghers was known not only for her literary accomplishments, but also for her active involvement in politics. Through her husband, who was a member of the Budapest Sunday Circle, Seghers was introduced to thinkers such as Georg Lukacs, with whom she maintained correspondence while in exile. In Berlin, Seghers joined the German Communist Party and worked with the Bund proletarisch-revolutionarer Schrift- steller (Alliance of Proletariat-Revolutionary Writers). In 1926, Grubetsch was published in serial form in the Frankfurter Zeitung, followed in 1928 by Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara (The Revolt of the Fisherman from St. Barbara), which appeared under the name Anna Seghers. For these two stories, Seghers was awarded the Kleist Prize. Her first novel, Die Gefahrten (The Companions), was published in 1932 and warned of the growing strength of fascism in Germany.
After being arrested for a short time by the Gestapo in 1933, Seghers was able to flee to Switzerland and then Paris, where she was met by her family.
While living in Paris, she worked on the anti-Fascist exile newspaper, Neue Deutsche Blatter (New German Journal). Her first work in exile, the short novel Der Kopflohn (The Bounty), appeared in 1933. In this novel, as well as in subsequent works written during her years in exile, Seghers explored the growth of National Socialism in Germany, and provided a framework in which to understand the historical struggle against fascism. Two more novels, Der Weg durch den Februar (The Way of February) and Die Ret- tung (The Escape), were published in 1935 and 1937. In 1940, as the Germans marched into France and her husband was taken prisoner, Seghers finished the manuscript for the work that—largely thanks to its 1944 Hollywood filming—would win her international renown; Das Siebte Kreuz (The Seventh Cross).In 1940, as the Germans occupied Paris, Seghers and her family fought to leave France. After many delays, they were able to settle in Mexico a year later. During her flight from Paris to Mexico, Seghers began work on the novel Transit. Set in Marseille in 1941, the novel portrays the same chaos faced by Seghers and her family: the hundreds of refugees who, fleeing the German invasion, poured into Marseille as their last hope and harbor.
The years Seghers spent in Mexico were just as active as those in France. She founded the anti-Fascist Heinrich-Heine- Klub (Heinrich Heine Club), an organization that focused on German literature and culture. Together with Ludwig Renn, Seghers organized the movement Freies Deutschland (Free Germany) and published a newspaper of the same name. In 1944 Seghers wrote the story, Der Ausflug der toten Madchen (The Excursion of the Dead Young Girls), which is considered to be her only biographical work.
Finally, in 1947 Seghers returned to Germany and settled in West Berlin. However, she became a member of the Socialist Unity Party, which quickly dominated political life in the Soviet Occupation Zone. In the same year, she was awarded the Buchner Prize for Das Siebte Kreuz.
In 1948, she became the vice president of the Kulturbund zur demokratischen Erneuerung Deutschlands (League of Culture for Democratic Renewal of Germany). A year later, she published the novel Die Toten bleiben jung (The Dead Stay Young) and the novella Die Hochzeit von Haiti (The Haitian Wedding). In 1950 she finally moved to East Berlin, where she became a member of the World Peace Organization. She was awarded the National Prize of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1951.During the years between 1952 and 1978, Seghers acted as the president of the Schriftstellerverband der DDR (League of GDR Writers), and was followed in this position by Hermann Kant. A two-volume collection of stories entitled Der Bienenstock (The Beehive) was published in 1953, followed in 1959 by the novel Die Entschei- dung (The Decision). That same year, Seghers received an honorary doctorate from the University of Jena. In 1967 the story Das wirkliche Blau (The Real Blue) again dealt with the theme of life in Mexican exile. Two years later, the novel Das Ver- trauen (The Faith) was published. In 1971 Seghers published her last story, Ubefahrt (Crossing), which is based on life in the GDR. A serious illness in 1978 finally forced Seghers to give up her position as the president of the Schriftstellerverband.
Kerri Snead
See also Intellectual Exile; Mexico
References and Further Reading
Alexander, Stephan. Anna Seghers im Exil: Essays, Texte, Dokumente. Bonn: Bouvier, 1993.
Fehervary, Helen. Anna Seghers: The Mythic Dimension. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 2001.
Romero, Christiane Zehl. Anna Seghers: eine Biographie 1900-1947. Aufbau: Berlin, 2000.