Else Lasker-Schüler

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Else Lasker-Schüler

Poet, author, playwright and artist – Else Lasker-Schüler was all this and more. At the turn of the 20th century Lasker-Schüler was one of the most prominent creative minds of the German-speaking world. Reality and imagination, a stormy life and fantasy, personal tragedies and great artistic success, Else Lasker-Schüler's personal world and creative world merged in a myriad of ways during the decades that she was active in her homeland, Germany. With the rise of the Nazis, she was forced to escape to Switzerland, a penniless refugee trying to survive in exile. In the 30s she visited Eretz Yisrael time and time again. On her third trip her visit became an extended stay that lasted until her death in 1945. Else Lasker-Schüler's personal archive, which is preserved in The National Library, reveals the diversity of her creative works, her relationships with important culture figures, and her movement between East and West. Using this material, we built a special website to showcase some of Else Lasker-Schüler's treasures found in The Library and to facilitate a rich and colorful encounter with the artist and her works.

	Literary Fate – Else Lasker-Schüler as a Writer From her Expressionist poetry, by way of her works in German; from Biblical subjects and Eastern characters, Else Lasker-Schüler had a complicated and bifurcated creative world that resided between East and West, reality and imagination, love poems and descriptions of the half-imagined land of the Hebrews.

	A Refugee in Switzerland At the height of her career, as 1933 approached, the Jewish-German poet was forced to escape to Switzerland. There she faced attempts to renew her visa, the loss of her homeland, Germany, her new existential situation and emotional upheaval.

	A Performance in the Footsteps of Else Lasker-Schüler: A Work of Art by Ofri Cnaani "Anyone who has started these journeys in their lives also had to leave something behind" – a modern artist creating in the spirit of Else Lasker-Schüler.

	When Else Wrote to Agnon In May of 1933, a postcard was sent from Zurich, Switzerland. Thus began the correspondence between Else Lasker-Schüler and S.Y. Agnon.


The Else Lakser- Schüler Archive In the poet's personal archive, preserved in The National Library, you can find manuscripts of her works, drawings, and personal correspondences with her contemporaries.	Else Lasker-Schüler, artist Else Lasker-Schüler was a multidisciplinary artist. Her paintings and drawings reveal deep aspects of her inner and creative world.	Else-Yusuf In her creative world, and in her real life, Else Lasker-Schüler adopted the character of Yusuf, "The Prince of Thebes", an Oriental fantasy and another facet of the poet's personality.

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