Olga Eschenbach

Olga Eschenbach was the pen name of Johanna Hering, later Johanna Salkowsky (1821–1884). Born in Memel to a pharmacist, she trained as a governess after her father’s financial ruin and began working as a private tutor at fifteen. Her career later took her to England and, after returning to Germany, to Königsberg and southern France.

She wrote around fifteen works for young readers, especially girls, including Der Seele Schönheit, Bilder aus alter Zeit, Cousine Gänseblümchen, and Elisabeths Winter und Frühling in Rom. Her stories often reflect her own experiences as an educator and traveler, combining moral themes with detailed portraits of places and cultures. After her marriage in 1857, she moved to southern France and ended her literary work.