Margot Bettauer Dembo (10 January 1928 – 10 July 2019) was a German-born American translator of fiction and non-fiction. She translated writing from German to English, and is known for her translations of works by

Judith Hermann Judith Hermann (born 15 May 1970) is a German author. She has published several books of short stories and her first novel was published in 2014. She is a leading figure of the ''Fräuleinwunder'' ("girl wonder") group of women writers. Life ...

Robert Gernhardt Robert Gernhardt (13 December 1937 – 30 June 2006) was a German writer, painter, graphic artist and poet. Life Robert Gernhardt was born the son of a judge and a chemist in Tallinn, where his family was part of the Baltic German minority. In ...

Joachim Fest Joachim Clemens Fest (8 December 1926 – 11 September 2006) was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor who was best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including a biography of Adolf Hitler and books about ...

Ödön von Horvath Ödön is a male given name of Hungarian origin, since the 19th century Ödön became variant of Edmund. It may refer to: * Ödön Bárdi (1877–1958), actor * Ödön Batthyány-Strattmann (1826–1914) nobleman * Ödön Beöthy (1796–1854), p ...

Feridun Zaimoglu Feridun (from Persian '' Freydun'', Proto-Iranian ''Θraitauna-'') is a masculine given name. People with the name include: * Feridun Ahmed Bey (died 1583), Ottoman official, bureaucrat, author and military officer *Feridun Düzağaç (born 1968), ...

, and

Hermann Kant Hermann Kant (; 14 June 1926 – 14 August 2016) was a German writer noted for his writings during the time of East Germany. He won the Heinrich Mann Prize in 1967. He served the Stasi as an informer under the codename ''IM Martin''. Early life ...

. Her work won the Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize and the Goethe-Institut/Berlin Translator's Prize. She translated multiple non-fiction memoirs and historical accounts of World War II, as well as several works of fiction.

Career

Dembo worked as a freelance editor and translator of works from German to English. Her editorial work included editing publications for

W.W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...

and the

American Museum of Natural History The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...

. As a translator, Dembo initially focused on works written in and about World War II, in German, especially non-fiction works and memoirs of the Holocaust. These included

Jost Hermand Jost is both a German given name and a surname and a Jewish (Ashkenazi) surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Jost Amman (1539–1591), Swiss * Jost Bürgi (1552–1632), Swiss clockmaker, maker of astronomical instruments ...

's ''A Hitler Youth in Poland'' (1998), Ruth Elias' memoir, ''A Triumph of Hope: From Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to Israel'' (1999),

Solomon Perel Solomon Perel (also Shlomo Perel or Solly Perel; born 21 April 1925) is a German-born Israeli author and motivational speaker. He was born to a German-Jewish family and managed to escape persecution by the Nazis by masquerading as an ethnic Germa ...

's ''Europa, Europa'' (1997) and Hans-Joachim Maaz's ''Behind the Wall – The Inner Life of Communist Germany'' (1995). She has translated books by

, Zsuzsa Bank, Kristina Dunker, Vicky Baum, Olaf G. Klein, and

Anna Seghers Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...

. She also translated the scripts for two documentary films, '' The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945'', which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1992, and ''The Burning Wall''. Shorter translations by Dembo appeared in ''

Granta ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and ma ...

'' and ''No Man's Land.'' Dembo translated writer

's debut book of stories, ''Sommerhaus, Später,'' work that won her the

Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize The Helen and Kurt Wolff Translator's Prize is an annual literary prize named for the German–American publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff "honoring an outstanding literary translation from German into English" published in the USA the previous year ...

in 2003.

Biography

Dembo was born in Mannheim, Germany on 10 January 1928. Her family emigrated to the United States of America, and she lived in Toms River, in New Jersey, later moving to Ancramdale in New York state. She died on 10 July 2019, in New York.

Awards and honors

* 2003

for translating to English

's ''Summerhouse, later'' (''Sommerhaus, Später'') * 1994 Goethe-Institut/Berlin Translator's Prize

Bibliography

Translations from German to English: * (1998) Ruth Elias, ''Triumph of Hope: From Theresienstadt and Auschwitz to Israel'' (John Wiley and Sons) * (1999) Olaf G. Klein, ''Aftertime'' (Northwestern University) * (2002)

, ''Summerhouse, Later'' (Ecco) * (2003)

Roma Ligocka Roma Ligocka (born Roma Liebling, 13 November 1938 in Kraków, Poland) is a Polish writer, and painter. She was born in a Jewish family in Kraków a year before World War II. During the German occupation of Poland, her family was persecuted by t ...

and Iris Von Finckenstein, ''The Girl in the Red Coat'' (Penguin) * (2004)

, ''Inside Hitler's Bunker'':''The Last Days of the Third Reich'' (Farrar, Strauss and Giroux) * (2005) Zsuzsa Bank, ''The Swimmer'' (Harcourt) * (2013)

, ''

Transit Transit may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Transit'' (1979 film), a 1979 Israeli film * ''Transit'' (2005 film), a film produced by MTV and Staying-Alive about four people in countries in the world * ''Transit'' (2006 film), a 2006 ...

'' (New York Review of Books) * (2018)

, ''

The Seventh Cross ''The Seventh Cross'' (german: Das siebte Kreuz) is a novel by Anna Seghers, one of the better-known examples of German literature circa World War II. It was first published in Mexico by ''El Libro Libre'' In 1942. The English translation came o ...

'' (New York Review of Books) * (2021)

, ''The Dead Girls' Class Trip'' (New York Review of Books)

References

{{Authority control 1928 births 2019 deaths American people of German descent People from Mannheim 21st-century American translators