Rosa Ludmilla Assing (22 February 1821 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

– 25 March 1880 in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

) was a German writer, who also wrote under the pseudonyms ''Achim Lothar'' and ''Talora''.

Life

Ludmilla Assing was the second daughter of author Rosa Maria Varnhagen and David Assur Assing, a physician from

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

. Her elder sister

Ottilie Assing Ottilie Davida Assing (11 February 1819 – 21 August 1884) was a 19th-century German-American feminist, freethinker, and abolitionist. Early life and education Born in Hamburg, she was the eldest daughter of poet Rosa Maria Varnhagen, raised a ...

was a feminist author and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

activist. David Assing converted to

Lutheranism Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

so he could marry Ludmilla's mother, Rosa Maria Assing — although, for the sake of mutuality, the family moved into a Jewish neighbourhood where Assing would feel more comfortable. Ludmilla's parents were liberal intellectuals and held cultural salons attended by authors and thinkers including

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was a German poet, writer and literary critic. He is best known outside Germany for his early lyric poetry, which was set to music in the form of '' Lied ...

Friedrich Hebbel Christian Friedrich Hebbel (18 March 1813 – 13 December 1863) was a German poet and dramatist. Biography Hebbel was born at Wesselburen in Dithmarschen, Holstein, the son of a bricklayer. He was educated at the ''Gelehrtenschule des Johanneu ...

Karl Gutzkow Karl Ferdinand Gutzkow ( in Berlin – in Sachsenhausen) was a German writer notable in the Young Germany movement of the mid-19th century. Life Gutzkow was born of an extremely poor family, not proletarian, but of the lowest and most meni ...

and poets of the

Young Germany Young Germany (german: Junges Deutschland) was a group of German writers which existed from about 1830 to 1850. It was essentially a youth ideology, similar to those that had swept France, Ireland, the United States and Italy. Its main proponents ...

(''Junges Deutschland'') movement. After the death of her parents she moved to Berlin to live with her uncle, author

Karl August Varnhagen von Ense Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (21 February 1785 in Düsseldorf – 10 October 1858 in Berlin) was a German biographer, diplomat and soldier. Life and career He was born in Düsseldorf, the younger brother of Rosa Maria Varnhagen, a noted poet, w ...

, Ludmilla's mother's younger brother. As well as conversing about politics, she made accomplished pastel portraits of Varnhagen's visitors including

Gottfried Keller Gottfried Keller (19 July 1819 – 15 July 1890) was a Swiss poet and writer of German literature. Best known for his novel '' Green Henry'' (German: ''Der grüne Heinrich'') and his cycle of novellas called ''The People from Seldwyla'' (''Die Leu ...

, who she corresponded with for many years. Her sister Ottilie left home after an argument and later emigrated to the US. Gottfried_Keller_by_Ludmilla_Assing_1854

Gottfried_Keller_by_Ludmilla_Assing_1854

On her uncle's death in 1858 Ludmilla inherited his collection of documents. She prepared the scandalous letters of

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, naturalist, explorer, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and science. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, p ...

for publication in 1869 and Varnhagen's diaries which appeared in print from 1862 to 1870 in 14 volumes. This brought her worldwide fame but also into conflict with the authorities.

Otto von Bismarck Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of J ...

ordered that the diaries covering the year 1848 be seized, and forbade their publisher Brockhaus from distributing them. Assing fled to Florence in Italy and continued her activities as an author and editor. She joined the left wing of the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( it, Unità d'Italia ), also known as the ''Risorgimento'' (, ; ), was the 19th-century political and social movement that resulted in the consolidation of different states of the Italian Peninsula into a single ...

movement to unify Italy and wrote about politics in Italian and German for periodicals in each country as well as translating Italian texts into German. Ludmilla Assing's friends included

Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in Ger ...

Georg Georg may refer to: * Georg (film), ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) * , a Kriegsmarine coastal tanker See also

* George (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

and

Emma Herwegh Emma Herwegh (born Emma Siegmund: 10 May 1817 – 24 March 1904) was a German salonnière and letter writer who participated in the 1848 uprisings, undertaking at least one secret quasi-diplomatic mission on behalf of the . She is known to poste ...

Hedwig Dohm Marianne Adelaide Hedwig Dohm (née Schlesinger, later Schleh; 20 September 1831 – 1 June 1919) was a German feminist and author. Family She was born in the Prussian capital Berlin to assimilated Jewish parents, and her father was baptized. ...

and

Hermann, Fürst von Pückler-Muskau Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler-Muskau (; born as Count Pückler, from 1822 Prince; 30 October 1785 – 4 February 1871) was a German nobleman, renowned as an accomplished artist in landscape gardening, as well as the author of a ...

. After Pückler's death she wrote his biography and prepared his unpublished literary works for print. Assing died of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

in a Florence hospital in 1880. Ludmilla Assing Grab

Private life

She married 25 year old Italian

Bersaglieri The Bersaglieri, singular Bersagliere, (, "sharpshooter") are a troop of marksmen in the Italian Army's infantry corps. They were originally created by General Alessandro La Marmora on 18 June 1836 to serve in the Royal Sardinian Army, which ...

lieutenant Cino Grimelli in 1874 leading her to be credited as Ludmilla Assing-Grimelli in later published works. The marriage was deemed scandalous and was dissolved after one year. Grimelli committed suicide in 1878.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Assing, Ludmilla 1821 births 1880 deaths 19th-century German writers 19th-century German women writers German people of Jewish descent Writers from Hamburg Varnhagen family