Edith Anderson

Edith Anderson-Schröder (30 November 1915 – 13 April 1999) was an American-born East German journalist, writer and translator whose political sympathies favoured Marxism. In 1947, she moved to Berlin, then in the Soviet occupation zone, and between 1949 and 1990 part of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Berlin was her home base for the rest of her life.

Life Edith Handelsman (which was her name at birth) was born in New York City. Her father, Max Handelsman (1885–1964), was a teacher of Jewish provenance who was keen to integrate and troubled that the predominant language inside his own parents' house was Hungarian. Edith's grandparents had immigrated from Austria-Hungary. Her first short stories and poems appeared in 1933, under her authorship as Edith Handelsman, in the school magazine. He was half a generation older than she. They were married in 1944, It dealt with a young Jewish woman experiencing antisemitism in New York, and of her identity problems arising from it. Max Schröder translated "Loretta" into German and it appeared in the briefly resurrected newspaper "Ost und West", where it was described as "the contribution of a progressive author who wanted to contribute to the development of a united anti-fascist Germany".

Selected publications In East Germany, Anderson's best-known works were:

1956 Gelbes Licht (novel), translated from American English by Otto Wilck und Max Schröder 1972 Der Beobachter sieht nichts: ein Tagebuch zweier Welten (travel diary), translated from American English by Eduard Zak 1975 Blitz aus heiterem Himmel, (anthology), compiled by Edith Anderson

Other works: 1949 Loretta (novel), translated from American English by Max Schröder 1966 Leckerbissen für Dr. Faustus (short story), translated from American English 1980 Wo ist Katalin? theatre production, premiered at the National Theatre in Weimar

Translations: 1960 Naked Among Wolves by Bruno Apitz translated into English for Seven Seas Publishers 1963 Goethes Leben in Bildern for Edition Leipzig

Children's books:

1958 Hunde, Kinder und Raketen 1961 Großer Felix und kleiner Felix 1962 Julchen und die Schweinekinder 1962 Der verlorene Schuh 1978 Der Klappwald