Anna Seghers

Anna Seghers (1966)

Seghers' headstone.

Anna Seghers (German: [ˈana ˈzeːɡɛʁs] (listen); born Anna Reiling, 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), was a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War.

Seghers' parents were orthodox Jews, but also interested in Christianity. Nelly made her abitur in 1920. Before this, she had served as a nurse during World War I.

She married Hungarian Laszlo Radvanyi in 1925, and obtained Hungarian citizenship.

After the Nazis took over government in Germany, she was arrested and her books were burned.

In 1947 she returned to Berlin, Eastern Berlin, joining the Socialist Party. She worked for the Writers Union of the GDR.

She died in 1983 in Berlin.