World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Anna Seghers

アンナ・ゼーガース

Anna Seghers

Aliases: Anna Reiling / Netty Reiling / Anna (Netty) Radványi
Pen Names: Anna Seghers（Pseudonym (born Anna Reiling)）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1900-11-19 （Mainz, German Empire）
Died
1983-06-01 （East Berlin, East Germany） age 82
Nationality
German, Hungarian (by marriage, 1925), Mexican (by naturalization, 1946)
Languages
German
Religion
Judaism (by birth)
Residence History
Mainz (birthplace) → Cologne (studies) → Heidelberg (studies) → Zurich (transit/exile) → Paris (exile) → Marseilles (transit) → Mexico City (1941–1947) → West Berlin (1947–1950) → East Berlin (1950–1983)

Career

Occupations
Writer, Playwright, Radio dramatist
Active Years
1928-1983
Affiliations
Communist Party of Germany (KPD, joined 1928), Socialist Unity Party (SED, East Germany), Academy of the Arts of the GDR (co-founder), World Peace Council (member)
Memberships
Communist Party of Germany (KPD), Socialist Unity Party (SED), Academy of the Arts of the GDR (co-founder), World Peace Council
Influenced By
Bertolt Brecht (collaboration/influence), Heinrich Heine (anti-fascist literary tradition), Leo Tolstoy / Fyodor Dostoyevsky (discussed in essays)
Influenced
Christa Wolf (influenced contemporary German writers), Generations of exile literature and GDR writers
Nominations
Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 1959), Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 1967), Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 1968), Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 1969), Nobel Prize in Literature (nominated 1972)

Education

University of Cologne
Studied history, art history and Chinese
Country: Germany
Heidelberg University
Studied history, art history and Chinese
Country: Germany

Awards

Georg Büchner Prize
1947
Work: The Seventh Cross (Das siebte Kreuz)
Organization: German literary organization
Result: 受賞
National Prize of the GDR
1951
Organization: German Democratic Republic
Result: 受賞
Stalin Peace Prize
1951
Organization: Soviet Union (awarding body)
Result: 受賞
Honorary doctorate (University of Jena)
1959
Organization: University of Jena
Result: 授与（名誉博士）
Honorary citizen (Mainz)
1981
Organization: City of Mainz
Result: 授与

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Seventh Cross (Das siebte Kreuz)

1939 Novel (political / exile literature)

A novel about seven prisoners fleeing a concentration camp in the 1930s; examines moral choices and resistance under Nazism. Adapted into a 1944 American film.

ResistanceMoral choiceExile and pursuit
Adaptations
  • [Film] The Seventh Cross (film) / Fred Zinnemann (1944)
Translations
  • English translation: The Seventh Cross

Transit

1944 Novel (exile literature, existential themes)

Set in Marseilles, it depicts refugees' limbo and identity instability; explores individual choices amid political collapse.

RefugeesIdentityBureaucracy and fate
Adaptations
  • [Film] Transit (2018 film) / Christian Petzold (2018)
Translations
  • English translation: Transit

The Outing of the Dead Girls (short story)

1943 Short story

A partly autobiographical short story recalling a pre-WWI class outing and reflecting on classmates' fates during the wars; meditates on war and responsibility.

ReminiscenceLoss of innocenceEffects of war
Translations
  • English translation: The Dead Girls' Class Trip

The Dead Stay Young (Die Toten bleiben jung)

1949 Novel

Follows lives from the interwar period into the postwar era, portraying how personal choices and historical violence shape destinies.

Historical fatePersonal responsibilityPostwar society

Bibliography

  • Aufstand der Fischer von St. Barbara (1928) - Revolt of the Fishermen of Santa Barbara
  • Die Gefährten (1932) - The Companions
  • Das siebte Kreuz (1939) - The Seventh Cross
  • Transit (1944) - Transit
  • Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen (1943) - The Outing of the Dead Girls
  • Die Toten bleiben jung (1949) - The Dead Stay Young

Adaptations

  • The Seventh Cross adapted to film (1944, USA, dir. Fred Zinnemann)
  • Transit adapted to film (2018, Germany, dir. Christian Petzold)

Translations of Works

  • Das siebte Kreuz → English: The Seventh Cross
  • Transit → English: Transit
  • Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen → English: The Dead Girls' Class Trip

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Influenced by New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit)Exile literature (Exilliteratur)Socialist-realist tendencies in GDR-period works
Recurring Motifs
Exile and the refugee conditionMoral choice and conscienceWar and memoryCommunity and solidarity

Legacy

Anna Seghers was a major 20th-century German exile writer, known for works depicting Nazi-era experiences and moral choice. After the war she played a central role in GDR cultural life, received numerous honors, and achieved international recognition.

Museums

  • Anna Seghers literary memorial (Berlin) Berlin (specific address not provided)

Academic Societies

  • Academy of the Arts of the GDR
  • Various literary research groups (Anna Seghers studies)

Archives

  • Leo Baeck Institute (New York) holdings
  • Literary archives in Berlin (details not specified)

In Popular Culture

  • Mentioned in the film Good Bye, Lenin!
  • The 1944 film adaptation of The Seventh Cross impacted American popular culture

Trivia

  • Her pen name 'Anna Seghers' is believed to be based on Dutch painter/printmaker Hercules Seghers (Segers).
  • She escaped Europe in the early 1940s via Martinique and settled in Mexico City.
  • In Mexico she founded the anti-fascist Heinrich-Heine-Klub.
  • She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature multiple times (1959, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972).