Facing Fascism and Confronting the Past

Examines German women’s literary and cultural representations of the Nazi era.

Spanning almost the entire twentieth century, from the 1920s to the 1990s, this book gives voice to both Jewish and non-Jewish women writers from German-speaking countries who were silenced during the Nazi years. Discussions on gender, patriarchy, and fascism are brought to bear on the works of Nelly Sachs, Anna Seghers, Elisabeth Langgässer, Ingeborg Drewitz, Luise Rinser, Grete Weil, Christa Wolf, and others. The book also includes an autobiographical account of a Holocaust survivor’s experience. In light of recent political events in Europe, this book is particularly relevant.

Contributors include Gisela Brinker-Gabler, Ruth Dinesen, Elke P. Frederiksen, Gertraud Gutzmann, Robert Holub, Ritta Jo Horsley, Ruth Kluger, Helga Kraft, Sara Lennox, Elke Liebs, Dagmar Lorenz, Elaine Martin, Richard McCormick, Renate Möhrmann, Monika Shafi, Guy Stern, and Margaret Ward.

Elke P. Frederiksen is Professor of German Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park. She is the coeditor, with Elizabeth Ametsbichler, of Women Writers in German-Speaking Countries and is author of Women Writers of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland: An Annotated Bio-Bibliographical Guide.

Martha Kaarsberg Wallach is Professor of German and Chair of the Modern Language Department at Central Connecticut State University.