Siegfried Einstein (30 November 1919 – 25 April 1983) was a German- Jewish poet, novelist, essayist and journalist.

Life

The son of

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

owner Max D. Einstein, Siegfried Einstein was born in the small city of Laupheim in

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

. His father was the owner of the city's largest department store. The Einsteins had been residents in Laupheim since the second half of the 18th century. On 1 April 1933, the recently elected Nazis organized a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany. The department store Einstein was one of the Jewish businesses in Laupheim picketed by local members of the SA. During this action the shop windows were deliberately smashed. Laupheim former department store Einstein

Laupheim former department store Einstein

Whilst hiking in the mountains in August 1933, Einstein's twenty-year-old sister Clärle was killed by lightning in front of his eyes. For the rest of his life he kept the iron tip of her

ice axe An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking ...

as a memento. During

antisemitic 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 ...

actions in Laupheim in 1934, Siegfried Einstein was chased across the school yard and injured by being pelted with stones whereupon, on 26 September 1934, he fled to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and settled in the municipality of Au in the Canton of St. Gallen. There he went to boarding school. In November 1938, following the so-called

Reichskristallnacht () or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (german: Novemberpogrome, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) paramilitary and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from ...

, his father was arrested and sent to the concentration camp

Dachau , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

. While being held at Dachau concentration camp, he was deprived of his department store following the programme of Aryanization. Einstein's father was subsequently released from the concentration camp, physically and mentally a broken man. In 1940, both his parents managed to emigrate to Switzerland, their German nationality having been taken away, thus rendering them stateless. Siegfried Einstein had already been deprived of German nationality. Between 24 February 1941 and 25 June 1945, Siegfried Einstein, being a stateless foreigner, was interned by the Swiss government in nine

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

s and forced to work in road construction, draining

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and as a clerical assistant. During this period, he managed to contact German resistance groups and learnt about German literature produced by exiled authors. Following his release in 1945 his first works were published. In 1949, during his first visit to Germany since his emigration, Siegfried Einstein met

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...

. From 1950 until 1952, he headed the Pflug Verlag in

Thal Thal may refer to: Places * Thal, Lower Austria, Austria * Thal, Styria, Austria * Thal, Ruhla, Germany * Thal, Uttarakhand, Didihat district, India * Thal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan ** Thal railway station * Thal, St. Gallen, Switzerland * Th ...

near St. Gallen in Switzerland. In 1953 he returned to Germany and settled in the

Hessian A Hessian is an inhabitant of the German state of Hesse. Hessian may also refer to: Named from the toponym *Hessian (soldier), eighteenth-century German regiments in service with the British Empire **Hessian (boot), a style of boot **Hessian f ...

town of Lampertheim. However, following antisemitic riots directed against him, exhaustingly reported in the media, he moved to

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

in 1959. In 1956, the Thomas-Mann-Society awarded him the Thomas-Mann-Förderpreis. In the same year he held the speech during the commemorations of the centenary of

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 ...

's death at

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...

. His speech was subsequently published in Les Lettres Francaises. Between 1957 and 1967 he collaborated with several socialist and

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

newspapers and magazines amongst which were the Andere Zeitung,

Deutscher Michel (; "Michael the German") is a figure representing the national character of the German people, rather as John Bull represents the English. He originated in the first half of the 19th century. Overview Michel differs from figures that serve ...

and

Simplicissimus :''Simplicissimus is also a name for the 1668 novel Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus, Simplicius Simplicissimus and its protagonist.'' ''Simplicissimus'' () was a satire, satirical German language, German weekly magazine, headquartered in Munich ...

. He was also a regular contributor to several radio stations. Laupheim, grave of Siegfried Einstein

In 1961, influenced by the trial of

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Ilya Ehrenburg Ilya Grigoryevich Ehrenburg (russian: link=no, Илья́ Григо́рьевич Эренбу́рг, ; – August 31, 1967) was a Soviet writer, revolutionary, journalist and historian. Ehrenburg was among the most prolific and notable autho ...

, Konstantin Fedin, Yevgenia Ginzburg and Lev Kopelev. Based on his experience during this journey, he wrote "Unforgettable days in Leningrad – Tashkent and Samarkand" (''Unvergessliche Tage in Leningrad – Taschkent und Samarkand''). In 1967 he married Ilona Sand. From 1954 onwards he worked as a lecturer for literature at the

adult education centre Adult education, distinct from child education, is a practice in which adults engage in systematic and sustained self-educating activities in order to gain new forms of knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values. Merriam, Sharan B. & Brockett, Ralp ...

in Mannheim. He also gave lectures and held speeches in Germany as well as abroad. His poems were published in several

anthologies In book publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed work ...

. He died suddenly of a heart attack in Mannheim and was buried next to his sister, Clärle, in the Jewish cemetery in Laupheim. In January 2020 a commemorative plaque was unveiled at Siegfried Einstein’s birth place in Laupheim in remembrance of the Jewish history of the department store and to mark the place of his birth.

Awards

* 1956 Thomas Mann-Förderpreis * 1964 Tucholsky-Prize of the city of

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

Selected works

* ''Melodien in Dur und Moll'', 1946 – poems. * ''Die Frau eines Andern oder Der Mann unter dem Bett'', 1947 – translation of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

's ''Cuzaja zena i muz pod krovat'ju''. * ''Sirda'', 1948 – novel. * ''Das Schilfbuch'', 1949 – novel. * ''Thomas und Angelina'', 1949 – novel. *'' Das Wolkenschiff'', 1950 – poems. * ''Legenden'', 1951 – novel. * ''Eichmann: Chefbuchhalter des Todes'', 1961 – documentary. * ''Die Geschichte vom Goldfisch'', 1961 – translation of Roger Mauge's ''Histoire d'un poisson rouge''. * ''Meine Liebe ist erblindet'', 1984 – poems, posthumously published. * ''Wer wird in diesem Jahr den Schofar blasen?,'' 1987 – essays, poems and speeches, posthumously published.

Life

Awards

Selected works

See also

Notes

Further reading