Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (February 5,

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

– December 16,

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

) was a Romanian-born

German-language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is a ...

poet. A

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, she was murdered in

the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

at the age of 18 in a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

in Ukraine. Meerbaum-Eisinger of her father, the shopkeeper Max Meerbaum in Cernăuţi (Czernowitz), a town in the

Northern Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

region of the Romanian Kingdom (now

Chernivtsi Chernivtsi (, ; , ;, , see also #Names, other names) is a city in southwestern Ukraine on the upper course of the Prut River. Formerly the capital of the historic region of Bukovina, which is now divided between Romania and Ukraine, Chernivt ...

, Ukraine). Eisinger was the surname of her stepfather. At an early age she began to study literature. Her work shows a heavy influence from those she studied:

Heinrich Heine Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (; ; born Harry Heine; 13 December 1797 – 17 February 1856) was an outstanding poet, writer, and literary criticism, literary critic of 19th-century German Romanticism. He is best known outside Germany for his ...

Rainer Maria Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was an Austrian poet and novelist. Acclaimed as an Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and expressive poet, he is widely recognized as ...

Klabund Alfred Henschke (4 November 1890 – 14 August 1928), better known by his pseudonym Klabund, was a German writer. Life Klabund, born Alfred Henschke in 1890 in Krosno Odrzańskie, Crossen, was the son of an apothecary. At the age of 16 he came ...

agore. In 1939 she began to write poetry, and was already a skilled translator, being able to translate between French language, French,

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

and her native German. After German troops

invaded An invasion is a military offensive of combatants of one geopolitical entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory controlled by another similar entity, often involving acts of aggression. Generally, invasions have objectives of co ...

in July 1941, and the region where she lived was ceded to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1940, the family was forced to relocate to the city's

ghetto A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

. In 1942 the family was deported to the Mikhailovka labor camp in

Transnistria Transnistria, officially known as the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic and locally as Pridnestrovie, is a Landlocked country, landlocked Transnistria conflict#International recognition of Transnistria, breakaway state internationally recogn ...

, where Selma soon died of

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposu ...

. Meerbaum-Eisinger's work comprises 57 poems, which were written in

pencil A pencil () is a writing or drawing implement with a solid pigment core in a protective casing that reduces the risk of core breakage and keeps it from marking the user's hand. Pencils create marks by physical abrasion, leaving a trail of ...

and hand-bound into a volume named ''Blütenlese'' (English: ''Blossom Vintage/The Reaping of Blossoms''). Fifty-two poems were her own and the rest were translations from French (

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine ( ; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolism (movement), Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' ...

), Yiddish (

Itzik Manger Itzik Manger (30 May 1901, Czernowitz, then Austrian-Hungarian Empire – 21 February 1969, Gedera, Israel; ) was a prominent Yiddish language, Yiddish poet and playwright, a self-proclaimed folk bard, visionary, and 'master tailor' of the writ ...

, H. Leivick), and Romanian ( Discipol Mihnea). The volume was dedicated to her love and best friend, Lejser Fichman, a year her senior. It was planned that Fichman would give the book of poems to another friend of Meerbaum-Eisinger's, who would have the book published upon its arrival in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. However, Fichman died en route and was unable to transmit the book. Her poems were rediscovered and published by

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

in 1979, edited by Adolf Rauchwerger. In 1980 they were then published in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, through the efforts of journalist and researcher Jürgen Serke. The lost volume was published in its entirety under the title ''Ich bin in Sehnsucht eingehüllt'' (English: ''I am engulfed in longing''). An

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

of the poems was produced in November 2005.

Style and critical reception

The poems left by Meerbaum-Eisinger are written in a strikingly confident and lyrical

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

style, with a generally melancholy mood throughout. Literary critics count her among the ranks of world-class poets, and fellow poet

Hilde Domin Hilde Domin (27 July 1909 – 22 February 2006) is the pseudonym of Hilde Palm (née Löwenstein), a Germans, German lyric poet and writer. She was among the most important German language, German-language poets of her time. Biography Domin was b ...

said that her poems were "clear, beautiful, light, yet conveyed a sense of foreboding." Her poems, with the poems of

Rose Ausländer Rose Ausländer (born Rosalie Beatrice Scherzer; May 11, 1901 – January 3, 1988) was a Jewish poet writing in German and English. Born in Czernowitz in the Bukovina, she lived through its tumultuous history of belonging to the Austro-Hungarian E ...

and

Paul Celan Paul Celan (; ; born Paul Antschel; 23 November 1920 – c. 20 April 1970) was a German-speaking Romanian poet, Holocaust survivor, and literary translation, literary translator. He adopted his pen name (an anagram of the Romanian spelling Ancel ...

, are considered to make up an important part of the German-Jewish culture of

Bukovina Bukovina or ; ; ; ; , ; see also other languages. is a historical region at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. It is located on the northern slopes of the central Eastern Carpathians and the adjoining plains, today divided betwe ...

Bibliography

* * * Ortrun Niethammer: ''Innere Differenzierung. Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger: Rezeption ihrer Gedichte nach 1980.'' In

Inge Hansen-Schaberg Inge Hansen-Schaberg (born 11 March 1954) is a German educational researcher. Life Born in Flensburg, Hansen-Schaberg studied German and biology at the from 1974 and passed the state examinations in 1980 and 1983. She then worked at a West Ber ...

(ed.): ''Als Kind verfolgt. Anne Frank und die anderen.'' Berlin 2004, . (in German) * Mariana-Virginia Lăzărescu: ''„Schau, das Leben ist so bunt“. Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, Karin Gündisch und Carmen Elisabeth Puchianu: drei repräsentative deutsch schreibende Autorinnen aus Rumänien''. WVB, Berlin 2009, . (in German) * Francesca Paolino: ''Una vita. Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger (1924-1942)'', Edizioni del Faro, Trento 2013, . (in Italian) * Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger, ''Florilegio'', Edizioni Forme Libere, Trento, 2015, . (in Italian)

References

External links

Selma Meerbaum-Eisinger biography
at

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...

online, photograph
"Selma and her friends
" chapter in Pearl Fichman's memoir; poetry excerpts in English translation * http://www.selma.tv *http://www.societadelleletterate.it/2013/01/una-vita-selma-meerbaum-eisinger-1924-1942-di-francesca-paolino/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Meerbaum-Eisinger, Selma 1924 births 1942 deaths Writers from Chernivtsi Deaths from typhus German-language poets Jewish poets Bukovina Jews Nazi-era ghetto inmates Romanian poets Romanian Jews who died in the Holocaust Romanian civilians killed in World War II