Sigrid Grabner (née Hauf; born 29 October 1942) is a German writer.

Biography

Sigrid Grabner was born in the town of Tetschen-Bodenbach, Czech Republic. After the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans, her family moved to

Merseburg, Germany Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a diocese ...

in 1947 where Grabner attended school until 1957. In 1961 she graduated from high school in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

and worked in agriculture for one year. From 1962 to 1967 she studied

cultural studies Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...

and Indonesian studies at the Humboldt University in East Berlin. In 1972, she received her doctorate there with a thesis on the Indonesian cultural policy during the

Sukarno Sukarno). (; born Koesno Sosrodihardjo, ; 6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of ...

dictatorship. Since 1974 Grabner has worked as a freelance writer. The

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...

spied on Grabner, as she became suspected of being a

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

agent. In the 1990s, she co-founded and led the ''Brandenburgische Literaturbüro''. She was married to writer and concentration camp survivor Hasso Grabner and has two children. Today Grabner lives in Potsdam.

Writing

Grabner has published a large number of non-fiction books, Essays, biographies and historical novels. Her biographical works on historical persons include biographies of Mahatma Gandhi, Cola di Rienzo, Christina of Sweden and Gregory the Great. She visited the original locations several times for her research. Together with Hendrik Röder she published books about

Emmi Bonhoeffer Emilie Amalie Charlotte "Emmi" Bonhoeffer ( Delbrück; 13 May 1905, Berlin - 12 March 1991, Düsseldorf) was the wife of anti-Hitler activist Klaus Bonhoeffer and sister-in-law of theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She married Bonhoeffer on 3 Septembe ...

, Henning von Tresckow and the Nazi opponent Hermann Maaß. She is a regular contributor to ''Vatican Magazin''. In 2003, Sigrid Grabner published her autobiography ''Jahrgang '42 – mein Leben zwischen den Zeiten (Year '42 – My life between the times)''. The second volume ''Im Zwielicht der Freiheit – Potsdam ist mehr als Sanssouci (In the twilight of freedom – Potsdam is more than Sanssouci)'' followed in 2019.

Accolades

* 1992: Guest of honour, Villa Massimo * 2000: Scholar,

Künstlerhaus Schloss Wiepersdorf Schloss Wiepersdorf is a ''Schloss'' in Niederer Fläming,Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony ...

Selected works

:as writer: * ''Was geschah auf der "Zeven Provinciën"?'', Berlin 1980 * ''Traum von Rom'', Berlin 1985 * ''Mahatma Gandhi – Politiker, Pilger u. Prophet'', Berlin 1987 * ''Christine – Rebellin auf Schwedens Thron'', Frankfurt, Berlin 1995 * ''Jahrgang ’42 – mein Leben zwischen den Zeiten'', Leipzig 2003 * ''Im Auge des Sturms – Gregor der Große'', Augsburg 2009 * ''Sie machte Frieden – Maria Theresia und andere Erzählungen'', Kisslegg 2018 * ''Im Zwielicht der Freiheit – Potsdam ist mehr als Sanssouci'', Kisslegg 2019 :as editor: * ''1000 Jahre Potsdam'', Frankfurt, Berlin 1992 * ''Potsdam 1945–1989 – zwischen Anpassung und Aufbegehren'', Potsdam 1999 * ''Im Geist bleibe ich bei Euch – Texte und Dokumente zu Hermann Maaß'', Berlin 2003 * ''Henning von Tresckow, ich bin, der ich war'', Berlin 2005 * ''Emmi Bonhoeffer – bewegende Zeugnisse eines mutigen Lebens'', Reinbek 2006

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grabner, Sigrid 20th-century German non-fiction writers 21st-century German non-fiction writers German-language writers 1942 births German biographers German women biographers German autobiographers German women autobiographers Living people German women non-fiction writers 20th-century German women writers 21st-century German women writers People from Děčín People from Sudetenland Sudeten German people Humboldt University of Berlin alumni