Aurore Peyroles (ZfL): Else Lasker-Schüler – von Berlin nach Jerusalem: die Dichterin des Expressionismus

Poet, playwright, artist—Else Lasker-Schüler (1869–1945) was one of the most important figures in German Expressionism. A legendary personality within Berlin’s pre-war bohemia, she once wrote: “I do not want to fall in line, I want to invent myself.” This credo accompanied her entire life and shaped her poems, which are full of metaphors, symbols, and sudden shifts in imagery, combining symbolism, Jewish mysticism, and personal imagination. Because of her Jewish identity, she was forced into exile and spent her final years in Jerusalem. There, she kept writing and drawing until her death, creating an intimate portrait of her sense of homelessness.

Reading by Mia Dräger and Anna Kasten, students in the Acting program at Berlin University of the Arts.  

Literarische Heimat Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf

Many authors who helped shape the cultural life of their time spent years of their lives in Berlin’s Wilmersdorf and Charlottenburg districts. In cooperation with the ZfL and the Acting program at the Berlin University of the Arts (UdK), the Stadtbibliothek Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf presents some of these authors.

Fig. above: D.M. Nagu from the series Songs for a Future Generation (2020) (detail)