Die jüdische Mutter | Susanna

The prose of Gertrud Kolmar is presented for the first time in a critically annotated edition. Gertrud Kolmar (1894-1943), who worked as a teacher, educator, and secretary alongside her writing career, is primarily known as a poet. Both her prose and her plays were not published during her lifetime. Gertrud Chodziesner was deported during the factory action in 1943 and murdered in Auschwitz or on the way there. Following the editions of her poems (2003, 2nd ed. 2010), dramas (2005), and letters (1997 and 2014), the publication of Gertrud Kolmar's complete works in the Wallstein Verlag is concluded with the release of her impressive prose. In the novel "The Jewish Mother," the story revolves around a little girl who falls victim to a moral crime, her death, and the consequences for her single mother. In "Susanna," Gertrud Kolmar depicts a psychologically vulnerable, fascinating young woman, reflecting on her life through the eyes of an educator. The afterword reflects on the novel and the story against the backdrop of contemporary discourses on single mothers, Paragraph 218, and female sexuality. In this critical edition, both prose works of the poet are published for the first time in a reliable text form and commented on.