Harriet Ellen Siderowna von Rathlef-Keilmann
Harriet Keilmann at the age of 18 in Riga
Born
Harriet Keilmann

(1887-01-03)3 January 1887
Riga, Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Died1 May 1933(1933-05-01) (aged 46)
Berlin, Nazi Germany
NationalityGerman
Known forSculpture, Writing
Spouse
Harald von Rathlef
​
​
(m. 1908⁠–⁠1922)​

Harriet Ellen Siderowna von Rathlef-Keilmann, (3 January 1887 – 1 May 1933), was a German sculptor and writer of children's books.[1]

Life and work

She was born to a prominent Jewish family in Riga, Livonia, a province of the Russian Empire.[2] She married Harald von Rathlef,[1] a lieutenant in the Czarist Regiment of the Alexander Hussars, in 1908 in Riga. The couple had four children. The family fled to Germany on 28 December 1918 in an effort to escape from revolutionary Russia. The family settled near Weimar, where she studied under Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus until 1921.[2] She divorced her husband in 1922 and supported her children with the income from her sculptures, graphics and illustrations.[3]

In 1925 she became a major proponent of Anna Anderson's claim to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. She befriended the claimant and wrote a series of articles about her.[4] In the same year she converted to Roman Catholicism.

She was involved in artistic circles and social causes in Berlin, but was forced to resign from the Society of Berlin Women Artists when Adolf Hitler rose to power. Alarmed by the political developments in Nazi Germany, she hoped to leave the country. Before she could make definite plans, she died in Berlin on 1 May 1933 of a burst appendix.[5][6]

In Falk Harnack's 1956 film, The Story of Anastasia, she was portrayed by German actress Käthe Braun.

References

  1. 1 2 Dupuis, Robert; Usdin, Christine. "The sculptor Harriet Ellen von Rathlef-Keilmann". The Riga Rabbinate vital records. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  2. 1 2 Stonge, Carmen (2013). "Erasing Identity: Harriet Von Rathlef-Keilmann". Art History and Theory. 16: 51.
  3. ↑ Kurth, Peter, Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson, Back Bay Books, 1983, p. 65
  4. ↑ Kurth, pp. 74-75
  5. ↑ Kurth, p. 275
  6. ↑ Bodenstein, Joe F. "The sculptor Harriet Ellen von Rathlef-Keilmann". West-Art, Prometheus. Retrieved 9 May 2018.

Media related to Harriet von Rathlef at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.