We Refugees Archive

Anna Seghers

Boite 1646

22, rue St. Augustin, Paris 2

Combloux, 1. September (1938)

Lieber Prinz Löwenstein,

Ich danke Ihnen für Ihren Brief und für Ihre erfolgreichen Bemühungen.

Ich las ganz erstaunt in Ihrem Brief, dass ich mich in New York um Werbehilfe bemüht habe. Ich habe selbst keinen solchen Brief an das Büro gerichtet. Tatsächlich hätte ich mich zuerst an Sie gewandt, weil ich überzeugt bin, dass Sie mir nach Kräften helfen würden. Vielleicht hängen die Sachen so zusammen:

Ernst Toller fragte mich in Paris, warum ich mich nie bewerbe und ob ich keine Arbeitshilfe wollte. Worauf ich ihm erwiderte, nicht sofort, vielleicht im Herbst, wenn ich meine Arbeit wirklich beginne und diese Hilfe besonders brauchen werde. Inzwischen trat ich mit meinem Verleger Landshoff wegen eben dieser Arbeit in Briefwechsel. Da ihm der Plan einleuchtete und er weiss dass ich an diesem Plan ganz besonders hänge, bemüht er sich mit mir, dieser Arbeit die nötigen Voraussetzungen zu beschaffen. Ich will versuchen Ihnen meinen Plan zu erklären, nicht um Ihre Zeit unnötig in Anspruch zu nehmen, sondern aus dem Gefühl Ihnen diese Information zu schulden, weil ich weiss, dass Ihre Teilnahme an der Arbeit eine wirkliche echte Teilnahme ist.

Ich möchte ein Buch machen ähnlich den alten grossen echten Novellensammlungen, also ein Buch aus etwa vierzig Novellen aus alle Bezirken des Lebens, politische Erzählungen, Liebesgeschichten, Kriminalgeschichten, geschichtliche Stoffe, Märchen, Sagen, Geschichten von Bäumen, Pflanzen, u.s.w. Also für alle Art von Menschen und für alle Art Stimmungen. Strenge Geschichten abwechselnd mit frechen, tragische mit lustigen. An diesem Buch hänge ich ganz besonders, erstens weil ich weiss, dass ich jetzt imstande bin ein solches Buch wirklich anständig zu schreiben, zweitens weil ich in einem solchen Buch sozusagen alle Seiten meines Schreibens bringen könnte und nicht auf ein bestimmtes Thema fixiert wäre.

Landshoff geht da auch hin – die Schwierigkeiten wissen wir alle. Ich habe nun selbst Landshoff gebeten, mir bei den materiellen Voraussetzungen dieser Arbeit zu helfen. Sie verstehen gewiss, dass es viel nützlicher ist, wenn alle Möglichkeiten, sowohl des Verlags wie etwa einer Arbeitshilfe zusammenkommen, im richtigen Moment, damit ich eine gewisse Arbeitszeit vor mir habe. Ich selbst bin in diesen Dingen nicht sehr geschickt (man ist es für seine Person ja nie), ausserdem bin ich viel fort, so habe ich also meinen Verleger gebeten, zu tun, was möglich ist. Landshoff schrieb mir, dass er nach Zürich fährt. Es ist auch möglich, dass er zufällig mit Toller gesprochen hat, oder Toller einfach für mich eingereicht hat.

Ich glaube Sie werden durch diesen Brief verstehen, wieso es möglich sein könnte, dass ich nicht sofort mit Ihnen sprach,- wirklich der einfachste und für mich selbstverständlichste Weg.
Sie wissen, dass ich Ihnen für jeden Rat in andrer und meiner Angelegenheit sehr dankbar bin. Mit herzlichen Grüssen

Ihre Anna Seghers

Boite 1646

22, rue St. Augustin, Paris 2

Combloux, 1. September (1938)

Dear Prince Löwenstein,

Thank you for your letter and your successful efforts.

I was quite astonished to read in your letter that I had applied for advertising help in New York. I have not addressed such a letter to the office by myself. In fact, I would have turned to you first because I am convinced that you would help me to the best of your ability. Perhaps things are connected in this way:

Ernst Toller asked me in Paris why I never applied and whether I did not want a job aid. To which I replied, not immediately, perhaps in the fall, when I really begin my work and will especially need this help. In the meantime, I entered into correspondence with my publisher Landshoff about this very work. Since the plan was clear to him and he knows that I am particularly attached to this plan, he is making an effort with me to provide the necessary conditions for this work. I will try to explain my plan to you, not to take up your time unnecessarily, but out of the feeling that I owe you this information, because I know that your participation in the work is a real participation.

I would like to make a book similar to the old great genuine novella collections, that is, a book of about forty novellas from all walks of life, political stories, love stories, crime stories, historical material, fairy tales, legends, stories about trees, plants, etc. So for all kinds of people and for all kinds of moods. Strict stories alternate with naughty ones, tragic ones with funny ones. I am particularly attached to this book. Firstly, because I know that I am now able to write such a book very decently. Secondly, because in such a book I could demonstrate all sides of my writing and not be fixed on a certain topic.

Landshoff is going there too – we all know the difficulties. I have now asked Landshoff himself to help me with the material requirements of this work. You certainly understand that it is much more useful if all the possibilities, both of the publishing house and of a working aid, for example, come together at the right moment, so that I have a certain amount of working time for myself. I myself am not very skilled at these things (one never is for oneself). Besides, I am away a lot so I have asked my publisher to do what is possible. Landshoff told me that he is going to Zurich. It is also possible that he happened to talk to Toller, or Toller simply submitted for me.

I think this letter will help you understand, why it could be possible that I did not speak to you immediately,- really the easiest and for me most natural way.

You know that I am very grateful for any advice on other matters and my own. With warm regards,

Yours Anna Seghers

Anna Seghers (1900-1983), born Netty Reiling in Mainz, was a German writer of Jewish origin. She studied art history, sinology, history and philology in Heidelberg and Cologne. In 1925 she married László Radványi, a Hungarian social scientist. The couple had two children shortly after, Peter born in 1926 and Ruth born in 1928. Between the births of her children, she published the story Grubetsch in 1937, for which she received the prestigious Kleist Prize.

Due to Nazi persecution, Seghers fled to France in 1933, where she remained until 1941, after which she fled to Mexico. Seghers had been a member of the German Communist Party since 1929, as well as the League of Proletarian Revolutionary Writers. This, along with her Jewish background, made her a victim of Nazi persecution. While living in exile in France, she wrote “Der Kopflohn”, “Der Weg durch den Februar”, and “Die Rettung”. The letters that are in this correspondence were all written from her address in Paris. In exile she also wrote “The Seventh Cross”, which she published in 1942, making her famous worldwide. After the war, she published “The Trip of the Dead Girls”, which deals with the murder of her mother in the Piaski concentration camp.

In her letters to Hubertus Prinz zu Löwenstein, the founder of the American Guild for German Cultural Freedom, Anna Seghers advocates for herself and others to receive help for their artistic work. The American Guild for German Cultural Freedom was an organization that helped German artists, writers, and intellectuals in exile whose opportunities to work were impaired by the fascist government in Germany. The goal of the organization was to keep German culture alive outside of Germany, as it could not survive and thrive within German borders. The American Guild for German Cultural Freedom helped these people by providing financial support. The refugee experience of the German exiles was different for each individual. One of the main difficulties in fleeing is adjusting to a completely new place and finding a support system. The American Guild for German Cultural Freedom tried to help the German exiles with this adjustment so that they could also focus on their work at the same time.

Letter from Anna Seghers to Prince Löwenstein, September 1938 © Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933–1945 der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek –  German Exile Archive 1933-1945 from the German National Library.