Silvia Rodgers, Baroness Rodgers of Quarry Bank, (; 3 March 1928 – 8 October 2006), was a German-British writer and political activist. She was married to the politician Bill Rodgers.

Early life

Rodgers was born in

Wedding (Berlin) Wedding (, ) is a locality in the borough of Mitte, Berlin, Germany. It was a separate borough in the north-western inner city until it was fused with Tiergarten and Mitte in Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. At the same time the eastern half ...

to working-class

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 ...

parents. Her parents were members of the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

. Her mother insisted that Silvia not participate in the

Nazi salute The Nazi salute, also known as the Hitler salute, or the ''Sieg Heil'' salute, is a gesture that was used as a greeting in Nazi Germany. The salute is performed by extending the right arm from the shoulder into the air with a straightened han ...

at school. In an afterword to her memoir, Rodgers wrote "When I was ten and still in Berlin, I had that feeling that there was nothing I could not do". The family came to Britain in 1939.

Marriage and political involvement

Silvia Szulman and Bill Rodgers married in 1955. The couple had three daughters: Rachel, Lucy and Juliet. Rodgers influenced her husband's political career, particularly his decision to leave the Labour Party and set up the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

. Bill Rodgers said that most of the child-rearing fell to Silvia and that he was neglectful; she also worked as a dentist when he was first in parliament as they were not well-off. She was noted as a political hostess. Rodgers described herself as feeling like an outsider, dislocated and marginal.

Artistic career

Rodgers was a sculptor.

Research and writing

Rodgers completed a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, on the subject of the rituals of ship-launching: ''The symbolism of ship launching in the Royal Navy'' (1983). She was a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

. Her writings include: * "Women's space in a men's house: the British House of Commons" (1981), in ''Women and Space: Ground Rules and Social Maps'', ed. Ardener, S * A memoir, ''Red Saint, Pink Daughter: a communist childhood in Berlin and London '' (1996), joint winner of the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction (1997)"Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize Winners 1996 – 2000 inclusive"
/ref> * ''The Politician's Wife: life with Bill Rodgers'' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodgers, Silvia 1928 births 2006 deaths British autobiographers German women autobiographers British women autobiographers English political hostesses Jews who immigrated to the United Kingdom to escape Nazism British women anthropologists Jewish women writers People from Mitte Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Spouses of life peers Rodgers of Quarry Bank 20th-century British anthropologists 20th-century English women 20th-century English people