Lask, Berta (1878–1967)

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Lask, Berta (1878–1967)

German poet and playwright. Name variations: Berta Jacobsohn-Lask; (pseudonyms) Gerhard Wieland. Born Berta Lask, Nov 17, 1878, in Wadowice, Galicia; died Mar 28, 1967, in Berlin, East Germany; 3rd of 4 children of a Jewish paper manufacturer and a teacher; 2 of her brothers were killed in WWI; her sister was killed by the Nazis; married Ludwig Jacobsohn (neurologist), 1901; children: 4, including Hermann and Ludwig.

Ardent pacifist and feminist, became the most important German socialist writer after Bertolt Brecht; was one of the few German intellectual exiles in Soviet Union to survive the Stalinist terror (1934–53); poetry collections include Stimmen (1914) and Rufe aus dem Dunkeln (1921); plays include Leuna (1921) and Thomas Münzer (1925); also wrote stories for children and the autobiographical novel, Stille un Sturm (1955).

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