Else Lasker-Schüler

Elisabeth (Else) Lasker-Schüler was a seminal figure in German literature known for her contributions as a poet, short-story writer, playwright, and novelist. She was born on February 11, 1869, in Elberfeld, now part of Wuppertal, Germany, the youngest of six children in an upper-middle-class, assimilated Jewish family. Her father, Aron Schüler, was a banker and builder, and her mother, Jeannette, was an avid reader who spent much time nurturing Else’s early creative talents.

Lasker-Schüler’s upbringing was marked by a mix of comfort and cultural richness, yet she faced early personal challenges, including the loss of her beloved brother Paul at the age of 13 and her mother at 21. These losses profoundly impacted her life and work.

In 1894, she married Berthold Lasker, a physician, and moved to Berlin. The marriage was unhappy, but it brought her into contact with the vibrant literary scene in the city. There, she began publishing her first poems and mingling with influential avant-garde artists. Following her divorce from Berthold, she married Georg Levin, also known as Herwarth Walden, a creative pseudonym Lasker-Schüler coined for him because of his admiration for Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, or Life in the Woods. Walden was the editor of the leading Expressionist journal Der Sturm. Though they divorced in 1912, this partnership placed her at the heart of the modernist movement in Germany.

Lasker-Schüler’s literary works are characterized by their rich fantasy, symbolism, and innovative use of language. A prolific writer, Lasker-Shüler’s early poetry collections include Die Nächte Tino von Bagdads (approximately translated “The Nights of Tino of Bagdad”; Axel Juncker Verlag, 1907), Der siebente Tag (approximately translated “The Seventh Day”; Verlag des Vereins für Kunst, 1905), and Styx (Axel Juncker Verlag, 1902). Books such as Hebräische Balladen (approximately translated “Hebrew Ballads”; A.R. Meyer, 1913) and Meine Wunder (approximately translated “My Miracles”; Drielilien Verlag, 1911) explore themes of love, art, and Jewish identity, blending sound, image, and meaning in an evocative style. Much like the name she invented for Herwarth Walden, Lasker-Schüler also created a fictional alter ego, for herself, Jussuf, Prince of Thebes, based on the biblical figure of Joseph with whom she had identified since she was a child. Through Jussuf, she expressed her identity split as it was between bourgeois origins and bohemian inclinations and complicated by the ways she was treated because of her Jewish identity, an identity in which she took great pride.

Lasker-Schüler’s prose works include Ich räume auf! Meine Anklage gegen meine Verleger (approximately translated “I’m Cleaning Up! My Indictment of My Publishers”; Lago Verlag, 1925); Der Wunderrabbiner von Barcelona (approximately translated “The Miraculous Rabbi of Barcelona”; Paul Cassirer, 1921); Der Malik (approximately translated “The Malik”; Paul Cassirer, 1919); Der Prinz von Theben (approximately translated “The Prince of Thebes”; Verlag der Weissen Bücher, 1914); Gesichte: Essays und andere Geschichten (approximately translated “Visions: Essays and Other Stories”; Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1913); and the epistolary novel Mein Herz (approximately translated “My Heart”; F.S.H. Bachmair Verlag, 1912), which featured drawings by Lasker-Schüler herself. She also ventured into drama with plays like Die Wupper (Oesterheld, 1909; first performance in Max Reinhardt’s Deutsches Theater, 1919) and Arthur Aronymus und seine Väter (approximately translated “Arthur Aronymus and His Fathers”; published as a short story by Rowohlt Verlag, 1932; first performance in Zurich, 1936), the latter reflecting her deep concern with antisemitism and the Jewish-Christian relationship.

After the publication of both Arthur Aronymus und seine Väter and a book of prose and poems, (Konzert [“Concert”], Rowohlt Verlag) in 1932, the rise of the Nazis forced Lasker-Schüler to flee Berlin in 1933. For a time, she sought refuge in Zurich, Switzerland, where she continued to write and maintain her artistic connections. In 1939, she moved to Jerusalem. There, her life was supported by the Jewish agency and Salmon Schocken, an influential publisher. Though she spent her final years in poverty and ill health, she remained creatively active, completing the play IchundIch (approximately translated “IandI”; first performed in 1941) and publishing the poetry collection Mein blaues Klavier (approximately translated “My Blue Piano”; Jerusalem Press, 1943) in her later years.

Else Lasker-Schüler died on January 22, 1945, in Jerusalem and was buried on the Mount of Olives.