Anna Seghers

Anna Seghers is born as Netty Reiling in Mainz in 1900. She mainly studies Philology, History, Art History and Sinology in Heidelberg. In 1925, she marries Laszlo Radvanyi and moves to Berlin, where she joins the Communist Party in 1928. In 1933, she flees with her family to Switzerland, then France and ultimately to Mexico. During this time, she achieves world fame with her written work. In 1947, she returns to East Berlin, becomes involved in the World Peace Council and is elected as President of the German Writers’ Union of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In this role, she makes artistic freedom subordinate to the party line of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). In 1981, she is made an honorary citizen of Mainz. She then dies in East Berlin in 1983.