The author, whom I would like to introduce to you today, was born in Prague in 1887 and murdered in 1942 by the Nazis in the concentration camp in Minsk.

In her youth, Alma suffered from various illnesses, and she often missed school, which did not prevent her from taking a comprehensive approach to language, history and literature. She published her first poems in 1910 under the pseudonym Johannes Herdan.
From 1918 she published under her own name. She married Baron Bernhard von Ehrenfels in 1921. In 1925 she won the "Prize of the City of Vienna" for her Viking romance "The Story of Half, the Woman". In the same year, she traveled with her husband to Algiers, where she undertook many excursions accompanied by the desert explorer Julia Wagner-Jauregg. She had clearly found the inspiration for her traveling "Sahara".

In addition to her own career as a writer, she also translated numerous works by well-known authors, for example, her translation of the crime drama "The Fellowship of the Frog" by Edgar Wallace under the title "Der Frosch mit der Maske" is still known today. In Algiers she also wrote the novel "Passion in Algiers", which is strongly autobiographical. With her 11-year younger husband, she had a lot of conflicts, including his lavish lifestyle, which consumed large parts of her legacy. After the separation in 1930, Alma returned to Vienna.

Sad Ode

I am lonely. It spooked me the spinning parze
No thread, whom others are golden interwoven,
No, it flutters without crutch, like sun-shine
Spinning of the autumn.

I am lonely. No house was built for me
Colorful of flowers - no stove built from the garden,
No child chatter greets me and calls the mother,
Oh, no child.

Tired, I drift down the stream of my life,
Do not touch the oars anymore. Wherever I go
By current, or wind, or gods decree,
I will suffer it.

The river rushes more quietly and the running wave rushes
My rushing blood. Already I see misty meadows,
Drifting branches of my boat and under drooping pastures
I tilt the crest.

(Alma Johanna König -1930)

All day

All day, every day I died a thousandfold
Crucified death because of you.
Every night, all night, you kiss magically
New life in me ...

All day, every day, I would cross the sea
That I might be saved from thee.
All night, I must return every night
Also over the farthest sea ...

Every day, every day I must think shivering:
"In death, he belongs only to me."
Every night, every night, I would like to give countries away
For a dear word from you ...

(Alma Johanna König -1930)

In 1933 she met Oskar Jan Tauschinski, who later became a writer too. For him, she wrote "Sonnette", which, however, could not appear until 1946. The divorce of her husband was settled in 1936.
When in 1938 Austria became part of Deutsches Reich, the Nazis began to influence the life of the Jewish-born author through the Nazi regime. She had to change her apartment eight times in two years. On May 22, 1942 Koenig was arrested and transported to a collecting cell. Five days later, she was deported and murdered in a concentration camp near to Minsk.

I hope you liked this article and I could once again throw light on an interesting personality from the literary history, which one may not necessarily know. Since I was very interested in her work, I immediately got a book from her: "Nero -der jugendliche Gott", for 78 cent, I mean, a worthwhile investment, as I have already been literally dealing with the character of Neros, for Kindle is the book is even for free.

1. Erich Mühsam - Deutsch
1. Erich Mühsam -English
2. Walter Mehring -Deutsch
2. Walter Mehring -English
3. Alma Johanna Koenig -Deutsch

Lots of Light and Love <3