Ina Seidel

Born in Halle on September 15, 1885, Ina Seidel grew up in Braunschweig, Marburg, and Munich after her father's death. She later married the writer Heinrich Wolfgang Seidel, and after a childbirth infection she lived with a lasting physical disability. Her early books were poetry, but she went on to write novels, essays, and edited works.

Seidel's writing ranged from intimate, nature-centered poems to family stories, historical material, and fiction shaped by Christian themes. Her 1930 novel Das Wunschkind, which she had worked on for many years, is often described as her major work. In 1932 she was elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts, becoming only the second woman admitted there.

Her career is also tied to one of the darkest parts of German history. In 1933 she was among the writers who signed a public pledge of loyalty to Adolf Hitler, and she was later included on the Nazi regime's list of specially favored artists. She died in Ebenhausen on October 2, 1974, and is remembered today both for her literary importance and for the political choices that complicate her place in German literary history.