Elsa Andrea Elisabeth Björkman-Goldschmidt (1888–1982) was a Swedish artist and writer who was active in Sweden and Austria. After attending Stockholm's

Art Academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-seco ...

, she worked as an engraver and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

. In 1916, while assisting the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

in Russia, she met her future husband, the Austrian surgeon Waldemar Goldschmidt. They married in Vienna where she was involved with

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

and started working as a correspondent for the Swedish press. In 1938, anti-Semitism forced the couple to move to Sweden where she published a number of books about her life in Vienna.

Biography

Born in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

on 16 April 1888, Elsa Andrea Elisabeth Björkman-Goldschmidt was the daughter of the army officer Daniel Magnus Fredrik Björkman and his wife Maria née Heyman. After attending a teacher training course at the

Anna Sandström ''Anna'' Maria Carolina Sandström (3 September 1854 – 26 May 1931) was a Swedish feminist, reform pedagogue and a pioneer within the educational system of her country. She is referred to as the leading reform pedagogue within female educati ...

Seminary in Stockholm (1906–1908), she travelled abroad to improve her language skills. She then spent a year at the Art Academy concentrating on etching, woodcut and lithography (1909–1910). She spent a further year studying

graphic art A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional, i.e. produced on a flat surface.

s in Belgium, making study trips to Italy and Germany. She presented her work at exhibitions in Sweden and abroad. In 1916, she travelled to Russia with her humanitarian friend

Elsa Brändström Elsa Brändström (26 March 1888 – 4 March 1948) was a Swedish nurse and philanthropist. She was known as the "Angel of Siberia" (german: Engel von Sibirien). Life and commitment Elsa Brändström was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. ...

to work an as untrained nurse in the Siberian prisoner-of-war camps. She returned to Russia a number of times in subsequent years as a delegate of the

Swedish Red Cross The Swedish Red Cross ( Swedish: ''Svenska Röda Korset'') is a Swedish humanitarian organisation and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian m ...

, experiencing the Russian Revolution. She met her husband-to-be, the Austrian surgeon Waldemar Goldschmidt, in a Moscow hospital. After marrying in Vienna in 1921, they settled in the city where they became involved in various cultural associations, including the literary society

Samfundet De Nio Samfundet De Nio (''The Nine Society'' or ''Society of the Nine'') is a Swedish literary society founded on 14 February 1913 in Stockholm by a testamentary donation from writer Lotten von Kraemer. The society has nine members who are elected for ...

and the women's association

Nya Idun Nya Idun is a Swedish cultural association for women founded in 1885, originally as a female counterpart to Sällskapet Idun ('the Idun Society'). Its aim was to "gather educated women in the Stockholm area for informal gatherings". There was a ...

. Elsa Björkman-Goldschmidt turned increasingly from art to writing, contributing columns to the Swedish daily ''

Dagens Nyheter ''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record. History and profile ' ...

''. In 1938, after the Nazis annexed Austria, as Jews they were forced to return to Sweden. Björkman-Goldschmidt wrote accounts of her years in Vienna in a series of books published from the 1940s. Titles included (1944), (1945), (1949) and (1959). Excepts have been translated into German by the historian Renate Schreiber and published in 1982 as . Elsa Björkman-Goldschmidt died in Stockholm on 6 April 1982.

Biography

References

Further reading