Carry Brachvogel

Carry Brachvogel (1864-1942) is born in Munich as the daughter of the Jewish banker Heinrich Hellmann (1819-1880) and his wife. After being educated as a woman from an upper-class background, she marries the Catholic Silesian writer and editor at "Münchner Neuesten Nachrichten" (Munich's Latest News) Wolfgang Brachvogel (1854-1892) in 1887. They have two children; the daughter remains non-religious, the son is baptised Catholic after the father.

After the death of her husband she publishes her first novel Alltagsmenschen (Everyday People) in 1895. Ernst von Wolzogen (1855-1934) arranges for her manuscript to be taken on by S. Fischer Verlag. Alltagsmenschen describes the fate of a young woman who fails in her traditional role as a wife and has an extramarital relationship.

Brachvogel also deals with the question of women's escape from their social role in her novella volume Der Erntetag (Harvest Day – 1897). The book, like her début, is well received by the critics. In 1901 her novel Die große Pagode (The Great Pagoda) is published, in which she denounces the exploitation of Munich actresses.

In 1903 Brachvogel is a member of the Verein für Fraueninteressen. Although she is not as radical as Anita Augspurg (1857-1943), she is able to make a difference and is elected to the association's board ten years later. In the Hebbel und die moderne Frau (Hebbel and the modern woman – 1912) lecture she held there, she substantiates her demand for a new self-image for women.

Due to her literary success and commitment to women's rights, Brachvogel is one of Munich's most outstanding female figures. Together with Emma Haushofer-Merk (1854-1925) she founds the Münchner Schriftstellerinnen-Verein in 1913. In 1920 she publishes the book Eva in der Politik (Eve in Politics), in which she traces the historical development of women in politics: "The state is a man's creation. [...] The woman, who did not think up the idea of the state, was not allowed to have any part in its expansion according to the men's commandment," it says.

After the death of Haushofer-Merk she becomes the first Chair of the female writers' association. However, burgeoning National Socialism forces her to withdraw: the association is dissolved and Brachvogel is banned from publishing. From then on, she lives in seclusion. Together with her brother Siegmund (1872-1942), she is deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on 22 July 1942, where she dies four months after her arrival.