Rinser, Luise (1911—)

German novelist, short-story writer, diarist and essayist. Born in 1911; daughter of devout Catholics; studied psychology and became a teacher.

Luise Rinser's largely autobiographical writings mirror the tragedy of Germany in the 20th century. Her first book, Die gläsernen Ringe (The Glass Rings, 1940), concerns a woman growing up under National Socialism. Though a great success in 1941, the second edition was banned. Arrested by the Nazis in October 1944 on charges of high treason and disruption of the military, Rinser survived only because the documentary evidence against her was burned in an air raid, but she spent the last months of World War II in prison. After the war, she became one of the best-known German writers of the postwar period, publishing such works as Gefangnis-Tagebuch (Prison Diary, 1946), Hochebene (High Plateau, 1948), Die Stärkeren (Those Who Are Stronger, 1948), and the highly acclaimed Jan Lobel aus Warschau (Jan Lobel from Warsaw) and Mite des Lebens (Middle of Life, 1950). She published her autobiography, Wolf umarmen (Embracing the Wolf), in 1981.

suggested reading:

Frederiksen, Elke. "Luise Rinser's Autobiographical Prose: Political Engagement and Feminist Awareness," in Faith of a (Woman) Writer. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1988, pp. 165–171.

Hinze, Diana Orendi. "The Case of Luise Rinser: A Past That Will Not Die," in Elaine Martin, ed. Gender, Patriarchy, and Fascism in the Third Reich: The Response of Women Writers. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1993, pp. 143–168.

John Haag , Athens, Georgia