Nelly Sachs Biography and List of Works

German poet and dramatist, who became a spokesperson for fellow Jews of the experiences in the Nazi death camps. In 1966 Sachs shared the Nobel Prize for Literature with the novelist S.Y. Agnon.

O, der weinenden Kinder Nacht!
Der zum Tode gezeichneten Kinder Nacht!
Der Schlaf hat keinen Eingang mehr.
Schreckliche Wärterinnen
sind an die Stelle der Mütter getreten,
haben den falschen Tod in ihre Handmuskeln gespannt,
säen ihn in die Wände und ins Gebälk -
überall brütet es in den Nestern des Grauens.
Angst säugt die Kleinen statt der Muttermilch.
(from 'An euch, die das neue Haus bauen')

Nelly Sachs was born in Berlin to a middle-class Jewish family, the only child of the inventor and industrialist William Sachs and Margareta (Karger) Sachs. A private teacher educated her before she entered the Berliner Höhere Töchterschule. At the age of 15 she began a correspondence with the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf, which lasted some 35 years. Her early poems attracted the attention of the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. He arranged for the publication of one of her poems. Sachs had immersed herself in dance and German Romantic writers. Her slightly melancholic early poems reflect the influence of the neo-romantic tradition. Sachs has excluded these early poems from her collected works.

During the 1920s and 1930s Sachs's lyrical works appeared in newspapers and magazines. After the death of her father in 1930, she lived with her mother. In 1940 Sachs and her mother fled to Sweden with the aid of Selma Lagerlöf. Other members of the family died in concentration camps. By the time they arrived, Lagerlöf had died. Sachs managed to support herself and her mother by translating into German the works of such Swedish poets as Gunnar Ekelöf, Erik Lindegren and Johannes Edfelt. She also became a Swedish citizen. Sachs's mother died in 1950. After years of isolation, Sachs began to gain international fame, receiving the Droste-Hülshoff Prize, and in 1965 the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. Accepting the award, she said, "In spite of all the horrors of the past, I believe in you."

During the post-war years Sachs published poems, plays and dramatic fragments, as a "mute outcry" against the Holocaust. In the collection DEN WOHNUNGEN DES TODES (1947) the central motifs are flight and pursuit, the symbols of the hunter and his quarry. ELI: EIN MYSTERIENSPIEL VOM LEIDEN ISRAELS (1951) depicted the tragedy of an 8-year-old Polish boy during the war.

FLUCHT UND VERWANDLUNG appeared in 1959, and established Sachs as an outstanding figure in German literature. After receiving the Nobel Prize, Sachs continued to live and work in her small apartment in Stockholm. Sachs never married. Over a period of many years she suffered nervous breakdowns and died of cancer on May 12, 1970. Recurrent images in Sachs's poetry are stars, dust, and sand, (see the collection ZEICHEN IM SAND, 1962). Her language was hymnal; she elevated suffering onto a timeless plane, continuing the tradition of psalmists and prophets. In O The Chimneys (1967) the Jewsih nation is represented as smoke drifting from concentration camp chimneys.

For further reading: Nelly Sachs. Neue Interpretation by M. Kessler et al (1994); Nelly Sachs by R. Dinesen (1992); Nelly Sachs by E. Bahr (1980); Poetik des modernen Gedichts by G. Bezzel-Dischner (1970); Nelly Sachs by P. Kersten (1969) - Note: Only nine women have received (1901-1997) the Nobel Prize for Literature: Selma Lagerlöf, Sigrid Undset, Grazia Deledda, Pearl S.Buck, Gabriela Mistral, Nelly Sachs, Toni Morrison, Nadine Gordimer, Wislawa Szymborska.

LEGENDEN UND ERZÄHLUNGEN, (1921)