author
Hermynia Zur Mühlen
1883–1951
Born into Austrian nobility, she became a sharp, politically engaged writer and translator whose work carried socialist ideas into novels, stories, and fairy tales. Her life crossed empires, revolutions, and exile, giving her writing unusual energy and range.
2 Audiobooks
Der Tempel: Roman
by Hermynia Zur Mühlen
Fairy Tales for Workers' Children
by Hermynia Zur Mühlen
About the author
Hermynia Zur Mühlen was an Austrian writer and translator, born in Vienna on December 12, 1883. She came from an aristocratic family, but she became known for writing from a very different political outlook, earning the nickname "the Red Countess." Alongside her own fiction, she translated more than seventy books into German from English, Russian, and French.
She wrote in several forms, including novels, short fiction, memoir, and especially fairy tales with a political edge. Readers and critics often remember her for bringing socialist ideas into popular storytelling and for using clear, lively prose rather than a distant literary style. Her work also reflects the upheavals of the early twentieth century, including war, social conflict, and the rise of fascism.
Later in life, she lived in exile in Britain, where she spent her final years. She died on March 20, 1951. Today she is valued not only as a novelist and storyteller, but also as an important cultural bridge whose translations helped bring major international writers to German-speaking readers.