Carla Grissmann (September 2, 1928 - February 15, 2011) was an American

humanitarian Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotional ...

, who worked as a writer, an educational reformer in Sri Lanka, and a keeper of antiquaries in Afghanistan. She is best known for her memoir ''Dinner of Herbs''. She grew up in Geneva, Berlin and

Bronxville, New York Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, a ...

, then worked as an assistant editor on the magazine Réalités in Paris. Next she taught in

Tangier Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...

, where she became friends with John Hopkins and

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

and

Jane Bowles Jane Bowles (; born Jane Sydney Auer; February 22, 1917 – May 4, 1973) was an American writer and playwright. Early life Born into a Jewish family in New York City on February 22, 1917, to Sydney Auer (father) and Claire Stajer (mother), Jane ...

; then she became a researcher in

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

, and afterwards a journalist for ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

'' in Israel. She spent a year in a Turkish village, which was the material for her memoir ''Dinner of Herbs'' (2001; new edition by Eland 2016). In 1969, she moved to

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, Afghanistan, and started working for the city zoo - ostensibly as an accountant, but her responsibilities included caring for Bobby the Chimp. She would live on and off in Afghanistan for the next thirty years, working for the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

. In this capacity, she did important work archiving the Museum's collection. Later, she had a crucial role in preserving various museum treasures from the ravages of the war with the Soviet Union and then the Taliban authorities, in the face of often considerable danger. In particular, the survival of remarkable Bactrian gold artefacts can be attributed to the dedication of Grissmann and her colleagues. She has been described as a "defender of the Kabul Museum," with its very survival attributed to her efforts. Grissmann also worked for the Asia Foundation, establishing English language centres in the science faculties of universities in Sri Lanka and Pakistan; she helped Afghan refugees in Pakistan and set up an unsuccessful hotel in

Ladakh Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...

. Her articles featured in publications such as the Encyclopædia Iranica and Museum International.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grissmann, Carla 1928 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers