Eva Siewert

Eva Siewert (11 February 1907 – 3 December 1994) was a German journalist, writer, radio announcer and opera singer, who lived and worked mainly in Berlin.

Childhood Eva Siewert was born in Breslau (today Wrocław, Poland), the daughter of two musicians. Her father Hans Siewert (1872–1941), son of a chemistry professor at the University of Córdoba (Argentina), was a Kammersänger. He became a member of the Nazi Party in 1932. Her mother Frida Siewert (born Michels, 1880–1953) was an opera and concert singer and a Jew, which is why her daughter later acquired the status of a "first-degree hybrid". Hans Siewert and Frida Siewert divorced in Hamburg in 1911.

Siewert moved to Tehran in 1930, where she worked for a German export and import company. Her time abroad equipped her with good foreign language skills, and when Siewert returned to Germany a year later, she gave the first radio lectures about her travel experiences. Her voice impressed listeners, so in 1932, she was nominated by the International Radio Service Berlin for the post of a German-speaking announcer at Radio Luxemburg. From 1 July 1932 to 31 March 1938, she held a well-remunerated position as editor-in-chief and trilingual (German, English, French) head spokeswoman for the station.

In May 1941, Siewert was arrested for the first time and taken into protective custody. The reason for the arrest was a series of incriminating letters discovered during a search at the home of her friend Kläre Beier in Bielefeld. In her letters, Siewert had repeated anti-fascist jokes she had heard among friends. A few months later, she was fined for violating the Treachery Act of 1934. Later that same year, after taking up a new position at the German legal publisher, an incident occurred that not only resulted in her immediate dismissal, but also a prison sentence: Siewert was denounced by two work colleagues for the seditious offence of "undermining the military force" (Wehrkraftzersetzung). Again, it related to jokes Siewert had told. In early September 1942, she was again sentenced under the Treachery Act – this time to nine months in prison.

In the judgement of 4 September 1942, it contemptuously stated: "The outward appearance of the accused is predominantly Jewish." It was also stated that Siewert's relationship with one of the two work colleagues who denounced her had "an erotic element", but that since summer 1941, a certain estrangement had occurred. Apparently, these hints of a possible same-sex relationship between the two women were not a disadvantage for Siewert; their effect was rather that the witness was classified as not very credible. In general, the court seemed convinced that the woman had repeatedly made incorrect or invalid statements. However, these qualifications were not enough to exonerate Siewert.

Overall, Germany was a "country of torment" for her, and she even viewed the so-called economic miracle with scepticism, especially after an anonymous note saying "Long live Germany!" was once stuck to her door by neighbours. Siewert regarded many of her fellow Germans as "unreformable", and in her correspondence with Kurt Hiller she fatalistically complained: "It makes no sense as a reasonable person to try to steer this insane ship with a hostile crew, surrounded by the shadows of the costly dead" and "One should let those who neither deserve nor desire anything better simply go under."

After 1945, Siewert was never able to continue her professional successes from before 1938. She was recognized as a political victim by the main Committee for the Victims of Fascism (Ausschuss für die Opfer des Faschismus) and due to her health problems received a so-called "severely injured" ID card given to people disabled during the war. She supplemented her meagre monthly pension through freelance journalism, writing for Die Weltbühne, Der Sozialdemokrat, Der Spiegel, the Telegraf and Die Andere Zeitung, to name a few. To date, however, only a few dozen publications by Siewert have been identified. Evidently, Siewert's essays, features, reviews and polemics were largely lost in day-to-day business. The author left only scattered traces in the history of German-language journalism. A comprehensive bibliography on her work remains to be compiled.

With her longer manuscripts, Siewert was largely unsuccessful. The book she wrote about her prison stay at 10 Barnimstrasse has never been published. Her extended manuscript for a book on lesbian love has likewise never been published. In the letters exchanged between Siewert and Kurt Hiller in the year 1950, no working title was mentioned, but the book was repeatedly described as being about "gynephilia in women".

Works Stage plays 1949 Wie verhält sich Potiphar?, comedy in three acts 1955 Am Mittwoch um fünf, comedy in four episodes and a prelude and postlude

Essays and stories (selected) 1946 "Das Orakel", in: Der Weg. Zeitschrift für Fragen des Judentums (vol. 1), Nr. 37 (September 8, 1946), p. 5. 1946 "Aus dem Buch 'Barnimstraße 10'. Zwei Novembernächte, die Berlin in Trümmer legten", in: Die Weltbühne (vol. 1), Nr. 10 (November 15, 1946), p. 315–316. 1947 "Die beiden Gesichter. Zur Erinnerung an den 10. November 1938", in: Frankfurter Rundschau (vol. 3), Nr. 132 (November 11, 1947), p. 2. 1948 "Das Boot Pan. Ein Blatt", in: Die Erzählung. Zeitschrift für Freunde guter Literatur (vol. 2), Nr. 6 (June), p. 21–22. 1957 "Plädoyer für die Story", in: Die Andere Zeitung (vol. 3), Nr. 7 (Februar 14, 1957), p. 11.