author
Marie Nathusius
1817–1857
A 19th-century German storyteller and composer, she is remembered for fiction shaped by faith, family life, and social concern. Her life was brief, but her writing and charitable work left a lasting mark.
1 Audiobook
Die Kammerjungfer: Eine Stadtgeschichte
by Marie Nathusius
About the author
Born Marie Scheele in Magdeburg on March 10, 1817, she grew up in Calbe and later married the publisher Philipp von Nathusius in 1841. She became known as a German novelist and composer, writing popular fiction that brought together domestic life, religious feeling, and everyday moral questions.
She lived with her family in Althaldensleben and later in Neinstedt, where she and her husband were involved in charitable work. Biographical sources also connect her with the beginnings of a care institution in Neinstedt for people with disabilities, showing how closely her writing life and social commitments were linked.
Marie Nathusius died in Neinstedt on December 22, 1857, at just 40 years old. Though not widely known today outside German literary history, she remains a notable figure of 19th-century Protestant culture, remembered both for her novels and for the practical compassion that shaped her life.