Countess Anna-Maria Ebba Barbara Henckel von Donnersmarck (née Countess Anna-Maria von Berg; born 5 March 1940) is a German literary scout, sociologist, and former political activist. She was active in the West German student movement as a member of the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund.

Early life

Henckel von Donnersmarck was born Countess Anna-Maria von Berg-Schönfeld on 5 March 1940 in Magdeburg to Count Karl Ludwig Hans-Hubert von Berg and Countess Barbara von der Asseburg-Neindorf. In 1945, when she was four years old, her family fled from their home in Saxony during the explusion of the Germans by the Soviet Army and settled in West Berlin with some of their relatives. Henckel von Donnersmarck was active in the West German student movement, a left-wing social movement consisting of mass student protests in West Germany rejecting traditionalism and opposing the German political authority's inclusion of former Nazi officials in government. She joined the Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund, formerly the collegiate branch of the

Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, that became affiliated with the Außerparlamentarische Opposition, which called for constitutional freedom of opinion and press, the freedom of assembly, and the democratization of university politics. During this time, she visited Wolf Biermann while he was under house arrest.

Later life

On 31 May 1968, she married

Count Leo-Ferdinand Henckel von Donnersmarck Count Leo-Ferdinand Maria Lazarus Romwolt Wilhelm Edwin Gerhard Henckel von Donnersmarck (26 December 1935 – 23 July 2009) was a German-Polish historian, businessman, and Catholic lay worker. He worked as an executive for the German airline Luf ...

. They had two children: * Count Sebastian Maria Carl Josef Wolfgang Henckel von Donnersmarck (b. 8 May 1972) * Count Florian Maria Georg Christian Henckel von Donnersmarck (b. 2 May 1973) She and her family moved to the United States in the mid-1970s and settled in

Roosevelt Island Roosevelt Island is an island in New York City's East River, within the borough of Manhattan. It lies between Manhattan Island to the west, and the borough of Queens, on Long Island, to the east. Running from the equivalent of East 46th to 85 ...

in New York City's East River. In New York, Henckel von Donnersmarck was involved in literary, artistic, and political groups and befriended the Austrian Jewish émigré

John Simon White John Simon White (Vienna, March 4, 1910—Sarasota, FL, November 6, 2001), born Schwarzkopf, was an American opera director, vocal coach, and stage manager of Austrian birth. He was the managing director of the New York City Opera from 1970 to1980 ...

, who later became the director of the New York City Opera. The family left the island in 1981 and returned to Berlin. Henckel von Donnersmarck worked as a sociologist and as a literary scout. Since her husband's death in 2009, she has lived in an apartment in Charlottenburg, on the Upper East Side of Berlin.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henkel von Donnersmack, Anna-Maria Living people 1940 births Außerparlamentarische Opposition Austrian countesses Countesses in Germany German democracy activists German political activists German refugees German sociologists German women activists Anna-Maria People from Magdeburg Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund members Victims of post–World War II forced migrations