Im Auto durch Persien

Under the title 'By Car Through Persia,' Annemarie von Nathusius publishes a travel report of a journey she undertook in 1924 from Bremen by ship to Bushehr, and then by Mercedes overland to Tehran. In Persia, she meets men of the Persian upper class and even receives an invitation to meet with Prime Minister Reza Khan, who later becomes Reza Shah Pahlavi. Reza Khan seems to have taken a liking to Annemarie von Nathusius, as he invited her to a polo match and later to his home. Annemarie von Nathusius engages in many conversations, including with a group of Persian women from a women's club that advocated against veiling, the chador, and arranged marriages. She, who herself has written against the moral and marital norms of her time, reports extensively on this encounter. She encourages the women to resist and to unite with the Persian men who have experienced the lives of free women in Europe and desire an independent, unveiled woman as a partner. Ultimately, this travel report becomes an indictment against the oppression of women in Persia. Annemarie von Nathusius calls out to the Persian women: 'You women of Persia, you mourners, I carry your fate and your wishes with me into the world. At the dawn of my hope for you, the departing one sends you her last greetings. Your veils will fall, and you will joyfully bind freedom like a precious wreath around your brows. For it is the highest good on earth! It is the price of suffering, the crown of strength; your veils will fall, you mourners, and you will pin the red blossoms of freedom to your belts. Your abandoned hands will hold these flowers of happiness in jubilation, flowers of struggle, flowers of victory. At the dawn of my hopes, I throw you these flowers.'.