Marie Renée Schwarzenbach since 1904 Schwarzenbach-Wille (née Wille; September 4, 1883 – April 26, 1959) was a Swiss socialite and daughter of the Swiss General

Ulrich Wille Conrad Ulrich Sigmund Wille (5 April 1848 – 31 January 1925) was a Swiss military officer who served as General of the Swiss Army during the First World War. Inspired by the Prussian techniques that he had been able to observe at the time of ...

. She was a granddaughter of German diplomat Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Bismarck (1783-1860) on her mother's side, and of novelist Eliza Wille (1809-1893) on her father's side. Schwarzenbach was an

equestrian sports Equestrian sports are sports that use horses as a main part of the sport. This usually takes the form of the rider being on the horse's back, or the horses pulling some sort of horse-drawn vehicle. General * * * * * * * * * * * * * ...

woman competing in main

show jumping Show jumping is a part of a group of English riding equestrian events that also includes eventing, hunters, and equitation. Jumping classes are commonly seen at horse shows throughout the world, including the Olympics. Sometimes shows ar ...

events in Switzerland and Germany, including the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. She is also known for her detailed photographic family diary, and as the mother of novelist,

travel literature The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a ...

writer and photographer

Annemarie Schwarzenbach Annemarie Minna Renée Schwarzenbach (23 May 1908 – 15 November 1942) was a Swiss writer, journalist and photographer. Her bisexual mother brought her up in a masculine style, and her androgynous image suited the bohemian Berlin society of the ...

Biography

Renée Schwarzenbach was the daughter of Swiss General

and Countess Clara von Bismarck. Her father was head of the Swiss army during World War I. In 1904 she married Alfred Schwarzenbach, a wealthy businessman in the silk industry. They had five children. She had affairs with women and was likely bisexual, which her husband tolerated. She was a passionate horsewoman, photographer (which she first became interested in at the age of 14) and music-lover — in particular of

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. After her marriage she chronicled the family life on their Bocken Estate in

Horgen Horgen () is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. It is one of the larger towns along the south bank of the Lake of Zurich. On 1 January 2018 the former municipality of Hirzel merged into the mu ...

near

Lake Zürich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

in a detailed photographic diary. At her death she had filled 64 photo-albums, containing approx. 10,000 photos in total. Although she devoted herself to her husband and family she also had a long-term affair with the German opera singer

Emmy Krüger Emmy Krüger (27 November 1886 – 13 March 1976) was a German operatic dramatic soprano. Krüger was born in Frankfurt am Main. She notably portrayed the title role in the world première of Erich Wolfgang Korngold's ''Violanta'' at the Nation ...

. Renée held political sympathies towards Germany, whether the Kaiser, Hitler or Adenauer was in power. During her many stays in Munich with her mistress, she saw the rise of Nazism as a way of overcoming the humiliating

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles was a peace treaty signed on 28 June 1919. As the most important treaty of World War I, it ended the state of war between Germany and most of the Allies of World War I, Allied Powers. It was signed in the Palace ...

. German diplomats in Switzerland praised her loyalty to the Nazi cause in their reports. After World War II, she helped out those Germans who had fled to Switzerland to escape the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

. She is known for her dominating personality and had a difficult relationship with her second daughter Annemarie, writer, photographer and traveller. This was partly due to the political differences between the two women: Renée being pro-German throughout the Nazi period and Annemarie holding decidedly anti-fascist views.

Bibliography

*''Bilder mit Legenden''. Ed. Alexis Schwarzenbach (Scheidegger & Spiess Zürich, 2001, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarzenbach-Wille, Renee 1883 births 1959 deaths Swiss female equestrians Olympic equestrians for Switzerland Swiss socialites People from Thun 20th-century Swiss photographers 20th-century Swiss women photographers Swiss LGBTQ sportspeople

Renée Renée (without the accent in non-French speaking countries) is a French feminine given name and surname. Renée is the female form of René, with the extra "e" making it feminine according to French grammar. The name Renée is the French for ...

Sportspeople from the canton of Bern