Edith Andreae, born Rathenau (18 January 1883–1952) was a German salonière. She was a literary executor and editor of the works of her brother

Walther Rathenau Walther Rathenau (29 September 1867 – 24 June 1922) was a German industrialist, writer and liberal politician. During the First World War of 1914–1918 he was involved in the organization of the German war economy. After the war, Rathenau s ...

. Edith Rathenau was born in 1883 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, only daughter of German-Jewish industrialist

Emil Rathenau Emil Moritz Rathenau (11 December 1838 – 20 June 1915) was a German entrepreneur, industrialist, mechanical engineer. He was a leading figure in the early European electrical industry. Early life Rathenau was born in Berlin, into a w ...

and his wife Mathilde Rathenau (born Nachmann), who belonged to a family descended from the

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

Moses ben Nachman Moses ben Nachman ( he, מֹשֶׁה בֶּן־נָחְמָן ''Mōše ben-Nāḥmān'', "Moses son of Nachman"; 1194–1270), commonly known as Nachmanides (; el, Ναχμανίδης ''Nakhmanídēs''), and also referred to by the acronym Ra ...

n - a mystic of the 12th century. She was the younger sister of politician

and the industrialist

Erich Rathenau The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

. On 10 February 1902, she married banker Fritz Andreae, the son of the salonière Bertha von Arnswaldt and Karl Louis Andreae (1839–1878), whose family were descended from both Protestant theologian

Jakob Andreae Jakob Andreae (25 March 1528 – 7 January 1590) was a significant German Lutheran theologian and Protestant Reformer involved in the drafting of major documents. Life He was born in Waiblingen, in the Duchy of Württemberg. He studied at the Un ...

and his grandson, the

Rosicrucian Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...

Johann Valentin Andreae Johannes Valentinus Andreae (17 August 1586 – 27 June 1654), a.k.a. Johannes Valentinus Andreä or Johann Valentin Andreae, was a German theologian, who claimed to be the author of an ancient text known as the ''Chymische Hochzeit Christiani Ro ...

. In her youth Edith Andreae was a friend of

Katia Mann Katia Mann (born Katharina Hedwig Pringsheim; July 24, 1883 – April 25, 1980) was the youngest child and only daughter (among four sons) of the German Jewish mathematician and artist Alfred Pringsheim and his wife Hedwig Pringsheim, who was ...

. In 1913 the family moved into the Villa Andreae in Grunewald. Edith Andreae there showed an "ambitious high degree of sociability". She was known as "the most intellectual woman in Berlin", and she supported

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

and numerous intellectuals of her time, including

Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, librettist, poet, dramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, the son of an upper-class ...

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into his work as well. He recei ...

Ursula Herking Ursula Herking (28 January 1912 – 17 November 1974) was a German film actress. She appeared in more than 130 films between 1933 and 1972. She was born in Dessau, Germany and died in Munich, West Germany. Selected filmography * '' Susann ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...

. Also such politicians as

Friedrich Ebert Friedrich Ebert (; 4 February 187128 February 1925) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the first President of Germany (1919–1945), president of Germany from 1919 until his death in office in 1925. Eber ...

were guests in her house. After the death of her brother Walther Rathenau she was the owner of Castle Freienwalde. The castle became a memorial for Rathenau as a part of the Walther-Rathenau-Foundation, which was dissolved in 1939. During the

Nazi era Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

the family had to give up the house in the Grunewald in 1938 and emigrated to Switzerland in 1939. The family settled in Zurich. There Fritz Andreae died in 1950 and Edith Andreae two years later in 1952.

References

Ursula von Mangoldt (daughter of Edith Andreae) : Auf der Schwelle zwischen Gestern und Morgen - Begegnungen und Erlebnisse, Weilheim/Oberbayern 1963 {{DEFAULTSORT:Andreae, Edith German salon-holders German editors German women editors Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to Switzerland 1883 births 1952 deaths People from Berlin 20th-century German women Swiss Ashkenazi Jews