Annemarie Schwarzenbach

Swiss writer, journalist, photographer and traveler. Her father, Alfred, was a wealthy businessman in the silk industry; her mother, Renée, the daughter of Swiss general Ulrich Wille and descended from German aristocracy, was a prominent hostess, horsewoman and photographer. From an early age she began to dress and act like a boy, a behaviour not discouraged by her parents, and which she retained all her life—in fact in later life she was often mistaken for a young man. In 1930 she made contact with Erika Mann (daughter of Thomas Mann). She was fascinated by Erikas charm and self-confidence. A relationship developed, which much to Annemaries disappointment did not last long, although they always remained friends. Annemarie found a soul-mate in Klaus, brother of Erika, and settled in with the Manns as an adoptive family. With Klaus she started experimenting with the use of drugs. She led a fast life in the bustling artistic city that was Berlin towards the close of the Weimar Republic. Her androgynous beauty fascinated and attracted both men and women. Annemaries life-style ended with the Nazi take-over in 1933, and Bohemian Berlin disappeared. Tensions with her family increased, as some family members sympathised with the Swiss Fronts, which favoured closer ties with Nazi Germany. Her parents urged Annemarie to renounce her friendship with the Manns and help with the reconstruction of Germany under Hitler. This she could not do — her circle included Jews and political refugees from Germany. Instead later on she helped the Manns finance an anti-Fascist literary review, Die Sammlung. The pressure she felt under led her to attempting suicide, which caused a scandal among her family and their conservative circle in Switzerland. She took several trips abroad with Klaus Mann, to Italy, France and Scandinavia, in 1932 and 1933. Later that year Annemarie travelled to Persia. After her return to Switzerland, she accompanied Klaus Mann to a Writers Union Congress in Moscow. On her next trip abroad she wrote to him suggesting their marrying, although he was a homosexual — nothing came of this proposal. In 1935 she returned to Persia where, despite her lesbian outlook, she married the French diplomat Claude Achille Clarac, born 31 August 1903 in Nantes, also a homosexual. They had known each other for only a few weeks, and it was a marriage of convenience for both of them. Unfortunately they moved to an isolated area outside Teheran where their lonely existence had an adverse effect on Annemarie. She turned to morphine, which she had been using for years for various ailments, but to which she now became addicted. She returned to Switzerland for a holiday, taking in Russia and the Balkans by car. However, once home, she could not face returning to the isolation she had experienced in Persia. She rented a house in Sils in Oberengadin, which became a refuge for herself and her friends. She wrote Tod in Persien (Death in Persia), which was not published until 1998, although a reworked version appeared as Das Glückliche Tal (The Happy Valley) in 1940. Here she also wrote what was to become her most successful book, Lorenz Saladin: Ein Leben für die Berge. In 1937 and 1938 her photographs documented the rise of Fascism in Europe — she was a committed anti-Fascist. She visited Austria and Czechoslovakia. She took her first trip to the USA, where she accompanied her American friend, photographer Barbara Hamilton-Wright, by car along the eastern coast, as f Read less