#anna seghers

Thanks to Anna Seghers’ legacy you know two things: 

trauma resonates far more when you know the victims by name,

and the first mention of concentration camps in literature (Das Siebte Kreuz/The Seventh Cross). 

You can learn so much more, of course, such as:

being in exile, followed by lost in translation,

how memory shapes (memorial) culture, 

and yes, the mostly unheard voices of female writers. 

Probably, I could write books about Anna Seghers’ life and work. Instead, I penned years ago a short story (ca. 2,500 words). The title is a reference to Anna Seghers’s famous novella, “The Excursion of the Dead Girls”/Der Ausflug der Toten Mädchen, 1946 (read full English translation here). I guess its content is more relevant than ever. The Excursion of Two Men in Love also rather uplifting, because on some days you need your escapism to survive. The photography shows one of Marc Chagall’s work in St. Stephan (Mainz, Germany). 

Lastly, yes, it’s a Johnlock story.