Minna Cohen Kleeberg (July 21, 1841 in

Elmshorn Elmshorn (; nds, Elmshoorn) is a town in the district of Pinneberg in Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. It is 30 km north of Hamburg on the small river Krückau, a tributary of the Elbe, and with about 50,000 inhabitants is the sixth-largest to ...

Duchy of Holstein The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had his ...

– December 31, 1878 in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, United States) was a

German-American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

Biography

Her father, Marcus Cohen, a physician, gave her a careful education. At 14, she wrote for a journal in

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

, and later for one in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and for L. Stein's ''Der Freitag-Abend''. After her marriage in 1862 to Rabbi L. Kleeberg, she lived in

Rhenish Prussia The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

, where she moved in a circle of literary men, chief among them

Emil Rittershaus Friedrich Emil Rittershaus (3 April 1834 – 8 March 1897) was a German poet. Biography He was born in Barmen (now Wuppertal), Germany. His poetry, marked by simple feeling, fine diction, and original matter, won great popularity. He died in Ba ...

. In 1866 Minna Kleeberg emigrated to the United States, living until 1877 in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, where her husband had been elected rabbi of a congregation, and removing thence to New Haven.

Works

Most of her poems were published in Stein's ''Freitag-Abend'' at

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 1865, her poem "Ein Lied vom Salz" (A lyric about salt), a plea for the removal of the tax on salt in

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

, spread her reputation. She had an abiding interest in public and patriotic questions: The Franco-Prussian War, the Fifteenth Amendment,

Friedrich Hecker Friedrich Franz Karl Hecker (September 28, 1811 – March 24, 1881) was a German lawyer, politician and revolutionary. He was one of the most popular speakers and agitators of the 1848 Revolution. After moving to the United States, he served as ...

, the

emancipation of women Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

, and the cause of

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and

democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

were among her themes.

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

national and religious feelings were equally a source of inspiration. The aspersions cast upon Jews by

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

and Billroth she repelled with indignant vigor. Her children and the joys and sorrows of domestic life were also notable themes of her verse. In the United States, she was a frequent contributor to ''Das New-Yorker Belletristische Journal''. A collection of her poems, ''Gedichte'', was published in 1877.

References

Sources

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External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kleeberg, Minna 1841 births 1878 deaths 19th-century American poets Prussian emigrants to the United States 19th-century German Jews German poets American women poets German women poets 19th-century American women writers 19th-century German writers People from the Duchy of Holstein