Grete Berges

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Grete Berges (born May 3, 1895 in Hamburg , † January 9, 1957 in Stockholm ) was a German writer , translator and literary agent .

Live and act

Grete Berges was the oldest daughter of the accountant Nathan Berges. She first attended the secondary girls' school and then the Grone commercial school. She then took a job as a German and foreign language correspondent for Hamburg companies that were active in import and export. From 1915 to 1918 she worked as a private secretary at Richard Hermes Verlag. The first own journalistic articles were not published, the following articles were printed in the Hamburger Theater-Zeitung and in the Hamburger Fremdblatt . Berges wrote a farce entitled Grand with Veer , which was performed in April 1926 in the Ernst-Drucker-Theater.

Grete Berges spoke at lecture evenings in Hamburg and Altona and worked for the Nordische Rundfunk Aktiengesellschaft from 1928 to 1933. She wrote a book for young people with the title Liselott dictates peace , which was published in 1932 by the Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft and was reprinted several times after a short time. Grete Berges received positive feedback on the story set in Eppendorf , the main character of which is Liselott, who is wearing trousers and who, together with other girls, succeeds in defying the unfairness and tutelage emanating from boys. Berges, who also read the story on the radio, received positive feedback on this book and therefore planned a sequel. However, due to the seizure of power by the National Socialists , this was not possible for her, as her employer terminated her employment in 1933 due to Berg's Jewish origin.

In the autumn of 1936 Berges emigrated from Hamburg to Copenhagen . Since she did not have a work permit here and was dependent on financial support, she tried to continue to the USA . Berges met Selma Lagerlöf in Copenhagen , who stood up for her and enabled her to travel to Stockholm in the summer of 1937. In Stockholm she met Walter A. Berendsohn , with whom she was a close friend and whom she later portrayed for a Hamburg daily newspaper. Berges initially translated Scandinavian books in Sweden that were published by Europa Verlag and later worked as a literary agent. She was considered one of the most important cultural mediators in Scandinavia, but despite her success she had financial problems until the end of her life.

Berges returned to Hamburg once. In July 1953, she wrote the article Reunion with Hamburg in the Hamburger Abendblatt , in which she stated that a permanent return to the Hanseatic city was impossible for her.

Grete Berges had a daughter who had also emigrated to Sweden.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Grete Berges: Reunion with Hamburg. In: Hamburger Abendblatt. July 22, 1953.
personal data
SURNAME Berges, Grete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German writer, translator and literary agent
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH January 9, 1957
Place of death Stockholm