Ruth Schaumann

Born in Hamburg on August 24, 1899, and later active in Munich, Ruth Schaumann was a German writer, poet, sculptor, and draftswoman. Reliable biographical sources agree that she lost her hearing in childhood after scarlet fever, and that she went on to develop an unusually wide-ranging artistic career across literature and the visual arts.

Her early poetry brought her attention, and her work repeatedly returned to religious and spiritual themes. Sources also note that she converted to Catholicism in 1924, a step that strongly shaped much of her later writing. Alongside poems, she wrote prose and created sculpture and drawings, making her one of those rare authors whose creative life moved easily between words and images.

Schaumann died in Munich on March 13, 1975. She is remembered not only for the breadth of her work, but also for the determination behind it: despite profound hearing loss, she created a substantial literary and artistic legacy over the course of the twentieth century.