Ruth Schwertfeger Libri

This exploration of the life and work of one of the most colourful figures of German Expressionism, Else Lasker-Schuler, focuses on her poetry, gender, Judaism and exile.

This is the first book in English on the Theresienstadt (Terezin) concentration camp in former Czechoslovakia and the only one of its kind which focuses on the women who were forced to live in it. Interwoven with the description of everyday life in the camp are memoirs and poems selected from the work of over twenty women. Carefully translated into English, these testimonies form an extraordinary and moving collection.

The memoir vividly captures the author's childhood experiences on a small farm in Ballycoan, Northern Ireland, intertwined with her education at a girls' school in Belfast. It explores themes of national and religious identity through humorous anecdotes, particularly highlighting her father, known as "the Wee Wild One," who brought joy and mischief to their lives. Schwertfeger skillfully connects her past memories and historical figures to her present, creating a rich tapestry of personal and cultural reflection.

The title of the book ‘In Transit’—as a reference to the novel written by Anna Seghers—functions on two levels: On a narrative level, it is a primary metaphor for the fate of all German Jews who fled from the Third Reich and found themselves in France doubly stigmatized as Germans—the despised boches—and as juifs. On another level, ‘In Transit’ offers perspectives on the Occupation of France and the Vichy regime—the so-called Dark Years—that have not been part of the Vichy debate. So how did German Jews who fled from Nazi Germany to France narrate and document their experiences? This book tells their stories, and in a sense brings them back home to Germany, where they always wanted to belong. It is high time to bring these narratives out of exile and place them firmly on the ground of the Vichy regime.