Else Ury (1877–1943)

Else Ury was born to an upper-middle-class Jewish family in Berlin, Germany. Her happy childhood and her extended Ury and Heymann families provided the inspiration for many of her books. Her father Emil Ury was a successful merchant and her mother Franziska passed her love of classic and modern literature, the arts and music to Else and her siblings Ludwig, Hans, and Käthe. Else graduated from the prestigious private lyceum Königliche Luisenschule, but did not go to university, as this was not customary for women of her class and era. Instead, she pursued writing as a career. In 1905, she published her first book, Was das Sonntagskind Erlauscht (What the Lucky Child Heard), a collection of fairy tales. This led to the tremendously popular Nesthäkchen series of children's books, which grew to a total of 10 volumes published between 1918 and 1925, that made her nationally famous, rich, and celebrated. She was one of the most prolific female writers of the Weimar Republic, publishing more than 39 books, which were also read on the radio. Although her works were not translated into English, there were French, Dutch, and Norwegian editions. Else also gave public talks and wrote newspaper columns. However, with the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany, she was banned from publishing and life became precarious. Her vacation home in the Giant Mountains and all her assets were confiscated by the Nazi government. She tried to market her work in the UK and the USA, hoping to establish an economic basis for emigration. On January 13, 1943, Else was deported to the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau and murdered on the day she arrived. After World War II, her books were repeatedly reprinted, with a total circulation of more than seven million copies. German public television network ZDF adapted the beginning of the Nesthäkchen series as a six-part 1983 Christmas show. However, it was not until 1992, with the publication of Else Ury's biography, Nesthaekchen kommt ins KZ: eine Annaeherung an Else Ury (Nesthäkchen Arrives in the Concentration Camp) by Marianne Brentzel, that the German public became aware of the fate of its once-favorite author.