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Rose Ausländer (born Rosalie Beatrice Scherzer; May 11, 1901 – January 3, 1988) was a
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
poet writing in German and English. Born in
Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...
in the
Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...
, she lived through its tumultuous history of belonging to the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
,
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...
, and eventually the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Rose Ausländer spent her life in several countries: Austria-Hungary, Romania, the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, and
West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...
.


Biography


Early life and education, 1901–1920

Rose Ausländer was born in
Czernowitz Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivtsi serv ...
,
Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...
(now Chernivtsi, Ukraine), to a German-speaking Jewish family. At the time Czernowitz was part of the
Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
. Her father Sigmund (Süssi) Scherzer (1871–1920) was from a small town near Czernowitz, and her mother Kathi Etie Rifke Binder (1873–1947) was born in Czernowitz to a German-speaking family. From 1907, she went to school in Czernowitz. In 1916, her family fled the
Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...
to
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
but returned to Czernowitz in 1920, which had become part of the
Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...
and was known as Cernăuți after 1918. In 1919, she began studying literature and philosophy in Cernăuți. At this time, she developed a lifelong interest in the philosopher Constantin Brunner. After her father died in 1920 she left university.


Minneapolis & New York, 1921–1927

In 1921, she immigrated to the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
with her university friend, and future husband, Ignaz Ausländer. In
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
, she worked as an editor for the
German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...
newspaper '' Westlicher Herold'' and was a collaborator of the anthology '' Amerika-Herold-Kalender'', in which she published her first poems. In 1922, she moved with Ausländer to
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, where they were married on October 19, 1923. She separated from Ausländer three years later aged 25, but kept his last name. She became an American citizen in 1926. In the cycle of poems ''New York'' (1926–27), the
expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
of her early work yields to a cool-controlled language of
Neue Sachlichkeit The New Objectivity (in ) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who used it as the title of ...
. Her interest in the ideas of
Baruch Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...
inspired philosopher Constantin Brunner, next to
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
,
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
and others is a topic of later essays, that he disappeared.


Cernauti and New York 1926–1931

In 1926, she returned for two years home to Cernăuți to take care of her sick mother. There, she met
graphologist Graphology is the analysis of handwriting in an attempt to determine the writer's personality traits. Its methods and conclusions are not supported by scientific evidence, and as such it is considered to be a pseudoscience. Graphology has been ...
Helios Hecht, who became her partner. In 1928, she went back to New York with Hecht. She published poems in the "New Yorker Volkszeitung" and in the Cernauti-based socialist daily
Vorwärts ( ; "Forward") is a newspaper published by the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). Founded in 1876, it was the central organ of the SPD for many decades. Following the party's Halle Congress (1891), it was published daily as the success ...
until 1931.


Cernauti 1931–1945

In 1931, she returned to look after her mother again, working for the newspaper ''Czernowitzer Morgenblatt'' until 1940. She lost her US citizenship by 1934, because she had not been in the US for more than 3 years. She separated from Hecht that year. She was in a relationship with Hecht until 1936, when she left for
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
. At the beginning of 1939, she traveled to Paris and New York, but once more returned to Cernăuți to take care of her sick mother. In 1939, her first volume of poems, ''Der Regenbogen'' (''The Rainbow'') was published with the help of her mentor, the Bukovinian writer Alfred Margul-Sperber. Even though critics received it favorably, it was not accepted by the public. The greater part of the print run was destroyed when
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
occupied Cernauti in 1941. From October 1941–1944, she worked as a forced laborer (Zwangsarbeiter) in the
ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...
of Cernauti. She remained there with her mother and brother for two years, and another year in hiding so as not to be deported to the
Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
. In the spring of 1943 Ausländer met poet
Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...
in the Cernăuți ghetto. He later used Ausländer's image of "black milk" of a 1939 poem in his well-known poem '' Todesfuge'' published in 1948. Ausländer herself is recorded as saying that Celan's usage was "self-explanatory, as the poet may take all material to transmute in his own poetry. It's an honour to me that a great poet found a stimulus in my own modest work". 4 In the spring of 1944, the Bukowina became part of the Soviet Union. Ausländer worked in the Cernăuți city library until September 1944.


New York, 1944–1966

In October 1944, Ausländer returned to live in New York. In 1947, her mother died and Ausländer suffered a physical collapse. From 1948 to 1956, Ausländer wrote her poems only in English. From 1953 to 1961, she made a living by working as a foreign correspondent at a shipping company in New York, and obtained US citizenship again in 1948. While attending the New York City Writer's Conference at
Wagner College Wagner College is a private university in Staten Island, New York. It was established in 1883 and, as of the 2023–2024 academic year, it enrolled approximately 1,932 students, including 1,592 undergraduates and 340 graduates. Its theatre prog ...
,
Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...
, Ausländer met poet
Marianne Moore Marianne Craig Moore (November 15, 1887 – February 5, 1972) was an American Modernism, modernist poet, critic, translator, and editor. Her poetry is noted for its formal innovation, precise diction, irony, and wit. In 1968 Nobel Prize in Li ...
. This was the beginning of a friendship documented in several letters, in which Moore advised Ausländer on her writing and finally encouraged her to return to writing poetry in German. Several of Ausländer's English poems are dedicated to Moore. In 1957, she met Paul Celan in Paris again, with whom she discussed modern poetry, poem and
shoah The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. She returned to her mother tongue. Celan encouraged her "to radically change her poetic style, which had been solemn and plangent, influenced by Hölderlin and Trakl, yielding to a no-frills, ever more musical-rhythmic clarity". In 1963, she spent time in Vienna, where she published her first book since 1939. The public welcomed ''Blinder Sommer'' (''Blind summer'') enthusiastically.


Düsseldorf, 1967–1988

In 1967, she remigrated to Europe. After an unsuccessful attempt to settle in Vienna, she finally moved to
Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...
. She first lived in a pension on Poensgenstraße 9 near the rail road station. She was invited to read her poems at the legendary Oberkasseler pub Sassafras. Here she created her expansive late work in rapid sequence and several major pushes. After an accident she moved in the
Nelly Sachs Nelly Sachs (; 10 December 1891 – 12 May 1970) was a German–Swedish poet and playwright. Her experiences resulting from the rise of the Nazism, Nazis in World War II Europe transformed her into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearn ...
Home for the elderly starting in 1972. Severely affected by
arthritis Arthritis is a general medical term used to describe a disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, Joint effusion, swelling, and decreased range of motion of ...
and bedridden from 1978 onward she still created a large part of her work, dictating her texts until 1986, as she was not able to write by herself. She died in Düsseldorf in 1988.


Works

Ausländer wrote more than 3000 poems, essentially revolving around the topics of "Heimat" (home land, Bukowina), childhood, relationship to her mother, Judaism (
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, exile), language (as a medium of expression and of home), love, ageing and death. With any poem written after 1945 one has to consider that it is influenced by her experience of the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
whether it directly deals with the topic or not. Ausländer lived in the hope that writing was still possible, not the least because she derived her identity from writing: "Wer bin ich / wenn ich nicht schreibe?" (Who am I / if not writing?). * ''Der Regenbogen'' (''The Rainbow''), 1939. * ''Blinder Sommer'' (''Blind Summer''), 1965. * ''Brief aus Rosen'' (''Letter from Rosa/Letter from Roses'') * ''Das Schönste'' (''The most beautiful'') * ''Denn wo ist Heimat?'' (''Then Where is the Homeland'') * ''Die Musik ist zerbrochen'' (''The Music is Broken'') * ''Die Nacht hat zahllose Augen'' (''The Night Has Countless Eyes'') * ''Die Sonne fällt'' (''The Sun Fails'') * ''Gelassen atmet der Tag'' (''The Day Breathes Calmly'') * ''Hinter allen Worten'' (''Behind All Words'') * ''Sanduhrschritt'' (''Hourglass Pace'') * ''Schattenwald'' (''Shadow Forest'') * ''Schweigen auf deine Lippen'' (''Silence on Your Lips'') * ''The Forbidden Tree'' * ''Treffpunkt der Winde'' (''Meetingplace of the Wind'') * ''Und nenne dich Glück'' (''And Call You Luck'') * ''Wir pflanzen Zedern'' (''We Plant Cedars'') * ''Wir wohnen in Babylon'' (''We Live in Babylon'') * ''Wir ziehen mit den dunklen Flüssen'' (''We Row the Dark Rivers'') * ''Herbst in New York'' (''Autumn in New York'') * ''An ein Blatt'' (''To a Leaf'') * ''Anders II''


Posthumous work

* ''Poems of Rose Auslander. An Ark of Stars'' (Translated by Ingeborg Wald, Drawings by Ed Colker, Haybarn Press 1989) * ''Rose Auslander: Twelve Poems, Twelve Paintings'' (Translated by Ingeborg Wald, Paintings Adrienne Yarme, Ithaca, NY 1991) * ''Dánta le Rose Ausländer'' (Translated into Irish by Isobel Ní Riain, Coiscéim, Dublin, 2023)


References


Sources

* This article draws on the corresponding German Wikipedia article retrieved January 22, 2005.


External links


Author page
at Lyrikline.org, with audio and text in German, and translations into English, Persian, Serbian, and Bulgarian. * Kirsten Krick-Aigner
Rose Ausländer
Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia, jwa.org


Guide to the Papers of Rose Auslaender (1901-1988)
at the
Leo Baeck Institute, New York The Leo Baeck Institute New York (LBI) is a research institute in New York City dedicated to the study of German-Jewish history and culture, founded in 1955. It is one of three independent research centers founded by a group of German-speaking J ...
. cjh.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Auslaender, Rose 1901 births 1988 deaths American poets in German American writers in German Writers from Chernivtsi People from the Duchy of Bukovina Bukovina Jews Romanian emigrants to the United States American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American emigrants to Germany 20th-century German women writers Jewish poets Romanian women poets Austrian women writers Jewish American poets German women poets Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century German poets German-language poets Jewish women poets 20th-century American Jews Romanian Holocaust survivors