Hilde Domin

Hilde Domin (27 July 1909 – 22 February 2006) is the pseudonym of Hilde Palm (née Löwenstein), a German lyric poet and writer. She was among the most important German-language poets of her time.

Biography Domin was born in 1909 in Cologne as Hildegard Löwenstein, the daughter of Eugen Löwenstein (d. 1942), a German Jewish lawyer, and Paula (d. 1943). Domin's year of birth has been erroneously reported as 1912.

Between 1929 and 1932 she studied at Heidelberg University, Cologne University, University of Bonn, and the Humboldt University of Berlin. She initially studied law, and later specialized in economics, social sciences and philosophy. Among her teachers were Karl Jaspers and Karl Mannheim. She often worked together with other European exiles, such as Austrian photographer Kurt Schnitzer. In November 2006, Hilde was awarded the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella in recognition of her efforts to advance Dominican culture.

Mourning her mother, and a miscarriage, Hilde began to write during her last years in Santo Domingo, choosing a pseudonym, Hilde Domin, that reflected her gratitude to the island which had offered her shelter.

Books Hilde Domin - Gesammelte Gedichte (Collected poems), Editorial S. Fischer Ziehende Landschaft (Poem, 1955) Nur eine Rose als Stütze (Poems, 1959). Her first collection of poetry. Rückkehr der Schiffe (Poems, 1962) Linguistik (Poems, 1963) Hier (Poems, 1964) Höhlenbilder (Poems, 1968) Das zweite Paradies (Prose, 1968) Wozu Lyrik heute. Dichtung und Leser in der gesteuerten Gesellschaft (Prose, 1968). In this essay Hilde Domin asks the question: Why lyrics? Ich will dich (Poems, 1970) Von der Natur nicht vorgesehen (Autobiography, 1974) Aber die Hoffnung. Autobiographisches aus und über Deutschland (Autobiography, 1982) Unaufhaltsam (Poem, 1962) Rufe nicht Der Baum blüht trotzdem (Poems, 1999), Vielleicht eine Lilie. Water colours by Andreas Felger. Hünfelden: Präsenz Kunst & Buch, (1999) Ausgewählte Gedichte (Selected poems), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, (2000) Wer es könnte. Watercolors by Andreas Felger. Hünfelden: Präsenz Kunst & Buch, (2000) Auf Wolkenbürgschaft. Watercolors by Andreas Felger. Hünfelden: Präsenz Kunst & Buch, (2005) The Wandering Radiance: Selected Poems of Hilde Domin, translated by Mark S. Burrow. Green Linden Press, (2023) With My Shadow: The Poems of Hilde Domin, A Bilingual Selection, translated by Sarah Kafatou. Paul Dry Books, (2023)

Her work has been translated into more than 21 languages.

Awards and prizes For her work Hilde Domin has been awarded a wide range of prizes including: Bundesverdienstkreuz Erster Klasse and the Großes Bundesverdienstkreuz 1974 Roswitha Prize 1983 Nelly Sachs Prize 1992 Friedrich-Hölderlin-Preis of the city of Bad Homburg 1995 Literaturpreis der Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung 1999 Jakob-Wassermann-Literaturpreis 1999 State Prize of the Federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia 2004 Honorary citizenship (Ehrenbürgerin) City of Heidelberg 2005 Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella, which is the highest order of the Dominican Republic.

Readings and lectures Guest of Honour at the Villa Massimo, Rome (1985) Frankfurter Poetik-Vorlesungen (1987/88) May 2005: Reading of selected poems in both German and English, organized by Oxford University German Society.