Henriette Ottenheimer (10 September 1807 – late March 1883) was a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

poet. She was born to Jewish parents Jakob and Sara Ottenheimer in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, Württemberg, and became partially paralysed at the age of six. She was particularly interested in Jewish history from an early age, and so she made it her life's work to contribute to the fight against

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

with her poetry. She numbered among her friends and correspondents many famous personages, including Ludwig Uhland, Friedrich Rückert, Michael Beer, Gabriel Rießer,

Wolfgang Menzel Wolfgang Menzel (21 or 26 June 179823 April 1873), German poet, critic and literary historian, was born at Waldenburg (Wałbrzych) in Silesia. Career overview He studied at the Breslau, Jena, and Bonn, and after living for some time in Aarau ...

, and others. In the 1870s she became completely paralyzed, and lived with an aged sister near

Ratisbon Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

. Henriette Ottenheimer wrote much, both in prose and in poetry, although she published little. Her most important work is the poem "Der Kettenschmied, ein Märchentraum" (Stuttgart, 1835), dedicated to Uhland. Other works include: ''Gedichte'' (Stuttgart, 1832), a volume of poems; ''Bilder und Lieder'' (Munich, 1833); ''Erzählungen und Gedichte'' (Stuttgart, 1836); and ''Erzählungen'' (Leipzig, 1841). She also contributed stories and lyric poems to the '' Morgenblatt'',

August Lewald August Lewald (14 October 1792 in Königsberg – 10 March 1871 in Baden-Baden) was a German author. Biography Lewald was born at Königsberg. He entered the Russian service at Warsaw, as secretary, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, War of Li ...

's ''Europa'',

Eduard Duller Eduard Duller (18 November 1809, Vienna – 24 July 1853, Wiesbaden) was a German-Austrian writer and clergyman, very active as a poet, novelist and later as a historian. Life His biological father died before his birth and so he was brought up ...

's ''Phönix'' and ''Deutsches Stammbuch'', Karl Spindler's ''Damenzeitung'', and other periodicals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottenheimer, Henriette 1807 births 1883 deaths Writers from Stuttgart Jewish women writers Jewish German writers German women poets 19th-century German Jews 19th-century German poets People with paraplegia