Anna Seghers.

Anna Seghers was born Netty Reiling on November 19, 1900, in Mainz, Germany, into a wealthy Jewish family. Her father was Isidor Reiling and her mother Hedwig Reiling. She studied art history, philosophy, history, and sinology at the University of Cologne and Heidelberg University, completing her doctorate in 1924 with a thesis on Jews and Judaism in the works of Rembrandt.

In 1925, she married Hungarian social scientist László Radványi, with whom she had two children. Her first story, The Dead of the Island of Djal, was written in 1924 but published posthumously in 1985. In 1927, she published her first story under the pseudonym Anna Seghers, derived from a contemporary of Rembrandt.

In 1928, Seghers won the Kleist Prize for her story Uprising of the Fishermen of St. Barbara. She joined the German Communist Party in 1928 and the Association of Proletarian-Revolutionary Writers in 1929. Her 1932 novel The Companions warned about the rise of fascism. After the Nazis came to power, she was arrested briefly and then emigrated to France in 1933.

In exile, she wrote The Head Wage 1933 and The Road Through February 1935. In 1941, she fled to Mexico, where she founded the Heinrich Heine Club. In 1942, she published The Seventh Cross, which was adapted into a 1944 film directed by Fred Zinnemann and starring Spencer Tracy. She returned to Berlin in 1947 and joined the Socialist Unity Party.

Seghers co-founded the German Academy of Arts in 1950 and led the GDR Writers’ Association from 1952 to 1978. Her later works include The Dead Stay Young 1949 and The Crossing 1971. She received honors, including the International Stalin Prize for Peace in 1952 and the Order of Karl Marx.

In 1925, Seghers married Hungarian social scientist László Radványi, a Marxist philosopher. They had two children: Pierre and Ruth. During her exile, she corresponded with philosopher Georg Lukács in 1938-1939. After returning from exile, she settled in East Berlin in 1950 and remained there until her death.

Seghers left a legacy as an anti-fascist writer. Her novel The Seventh Cross remains a key work about resistance, adapted into a Hollywood film. She received awards including the International Stalin Prize for Peace and the Order of Karl Marx. In 1981, her hometown Mainz made her an honorary citizen. She is remembered for her narratives of exile and courage.