Else Jerusalem

Else Jerusalem (November 23, 1876 – January 20, 1943) was an Austrian writer and feminist intellectual. Considered a "thought leader" of the period, she is known for her best-selling 1909 novel Der heilige Skarabäus, which was based on her research on prostitution in Vienna.

Early life and education Else Jerusalem was born Else Kotányi in Vienna in 1876. Her parents, Henriette and Max Kotányi, were middle-class Jews of Hungarian origin; her father worked as a wine merchant.

Though she was denied a full university education, she studied philosophy as a guest student at the University of Vienna, becoming one of the first women to attend the school.

Writing Jerusalem is best known as a writer and public intellectual. Her work centered on the then extremely controversial topic of female sexuality. Early writing on the subject included Venus am Kreuz (1899) and Komödie der Sinn (1902).

In her 1902 work Gebt uns die Wahrheit! ("Give Us the Truth!"), based on a speech she had given the previous year, she advocated for sex education to prepare young women for married life. It was published in an abridged English translation as The Red House in 1932. However, when the Nazis took power later in the decade, they banned the book. A complete English translation, by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega, was published in 2024.

After emigrating to Argentina in 1911, Jerusalem also produced a play, Steinigung in Sakya (1929), and a philosophical treatise, Die Dreieinigkeit der menschlichen Grundkräfte (1939). Never satisfied with her life in Argentina, Jerusalem traveled to Europe frequently. She died in Buenos Aires in 1943, at the age of 66.

Selected works

Venus am Kreuz (1899) Komödie der Sinn (1902) Gebt uns die Wahrheit! (1902) Der heilige Skarabäus (1909) The Red House, abridged translation by R. L. Marchant. New York: The Macaulay Company, 1932 Red House Alley, complete translation by Stephanie Gorrell Ortega, 2024 Steinigung in Sakya (1929) Die Dreieinigkeit der menschlichen Grundkräfte (1939)