Elisabeth Dauthendey (1854–1943)

Elisabeth Dauthendey was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, the youngest of four daughters of Anna and Carl Dauthendey, the German-born court photographer to the tsar. When Elisabeth was a year old, her mother took her own life. Her father moved the family to Würzburg, Germany. He later remarried and had more children, including Max Dauthendey, who became a well-known poet and painter. Elisabeth trained as a private tutor, learned several languages, and worked for a while as a governess in London. For health reasons, she returned home and spent time tutoring her half-brother Max. Her father died in 1896, freeing Elisabeth from his strict supervision. She applied through the newly-established women's educational association Frauenheil to attend selected lectures at the University of Würzburg – women were not yet admitted to German universities. She published her first novel, the semi-autobiographical Im Lebensdrange (The Range of Life) in 1898. During the years that followed, she traveled to and stayed in Italy, Paris, London, Berlin, Dresden, and Munich. Between 1898 and 1934, she published more than 20 books, including fairy tales, novellas, short stories, essays, and novels, many of which advocated for women's rights. She also translated works from Danish and other languages. With the rise of the Nazi regime to power, Elisabeth was threatened with persecution because her mother Anna had been Jewish, and she stopped publishing. Most of her property and many of her manuscripts were lost in a fire when Würzburg was bombed in World War II. She spent the last years of her life in financial difficulties and seclusion.