Lally Horstmann (née Léonie Lizzie Fanny Helene von Schwabach; 17 March 1898 – 10 August 1954) was a German writer and salonnière. She had a privileged upbringing as member of the Berliner Jewish

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

. During her childhood, her family was elevated to the Prussian nobility by

Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until Abdication of Wilhelm II, his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as th ...

. She married a German diplomat and art collector and became involved in literary and political salons. She authored two memoirs, ''Kein Grund für Tränen'' and ''Unendlich viel ist uns geblieben'', which documented her life in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Following her husband's death in a Soviet

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

she fled to Brazil, where she died in 1954.

Early life and family

Horstmann was born Léonie Lizzie Fanny Helene Schwabach on 17 March 1898 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. She was the daughter of , a banker and historian, and Eleanor Schröder, the daughter of a

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

banker. She was the granddaughter of the banker and diplomat Julius Leopold Schwabach and a first cousin of the writer and publisher . The Schwabach family was Jewish, but her father converted to Lutheranism. Horstmann grew up in the cosmopolitan, cultivated milieu of the Jewish financial

in Berlin and on the Schwabach family's country estate in Kerzendorf, near

Ludwigsfelde Ludwigsfelde () is a town in the north of the district Teltow-Fläming in Brandenburg. Geography Location The town is located south of Berlin in the district Teltow-Fläming on the plateau of Teltow (region), Teltow. In earlier times, it was par ...

. In 1907, her father was raised to the hereditary Prussian nobility by Emperor

, at which point the family surname took on the

nobiliary particle A nobiliary particle is a type of onomastic particle used in a surname or family name in many Western cultures to signal the nobility of a family. The particle used varies depending on the country, language and period of time. In some languages, it ...

''von'' (descending from). Horstmann's father was a member of the

Kaiser Wilhelm Society The Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science () was a German scientific institution established in the German Empire in 1911. Its functions were taken over by the Max Planck Society. The Kaiser Wilhelm Society was an umbrella organi ...

and one of the hundred wealthiest people in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Her sister,

Vera Vera may refer to: Names *Vera (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Vera (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name) **Vera (), archbishop of the archdiocese of Tarr ...

, married Baron Eduard von der Heydt.

Adult life

Horstmann married the diplomat and art collector , who was of Jewish descent, in 1919. The couple moved to

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

in 1920, where her husband was stationed as a diplomat, and returned to Berlin the following year. Back in Germany, they lived in a mansion in Berlin, where she managed the household. Horstmann hosted literary, political, and cultural salons at her country estate. She authored a variety of historical and non-fiction works, including ''Kein Grund für Tränen'' and ''Unendlich viel ist uns geblieben'', which documented life during the war. The British painter John Augustus Edwin painted a portrait of Horstmann around 1922 or 1923. It was auctioned in London at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in January 2007. She had previously been painted, in 1921, by the Norwegian artit

Edvard Munch Edvard Munch ( ; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work ''The Scream'' has become one of Western art's most acclaimed images. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inher ...

. The Berlin City Museum Foundation owns an expressionist portrait bust of Horstmann, created by the sculptor Fritz Huf. Her husband was considered a "half-Jew" under

racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout the history of antisemitism and Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities". During the 1930s and early 1940s, some law ...

, and survived

under difficult circumstances. Following the fall of the Nazi regime, the Horstmanns faced persecution and harassment by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

. Following her husband's death in a

in 1947, Horstmann fled to Brazil. As a widow, she was involved with the British barrister

Anthony Marreco Anthony (Tony) Freire Marreco (9 August 1915 – 4 June 2006) was a British barrister. He was Junior Counsel at the Nuremberg trials, and later a founding director of Amnesty International. He was also known for his romantic liaisons, marrying ...

, the former husband of Lady Ursula Manners. She died in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

in 1954, leaving part of her fortune to Marreco. Her gravesite was later destroyed due to construction on a road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hortsmann, Lally 1898 births 1954 deaths 20th-century German Jews Deaths in São Paulo (state) German expatriates in Brazil German salon-holders German untitled nobility German women non-fiction writers Jewish German writers Jewish women writers Prussian nobility Schwabach family Writers from Berlin