Heidelberg, 15 May 2025 Frauen Lieben Lernen

Julie Lampron, student at the Kolleg für deutsche Sprache und Kultur, Intermediate Level 2, attended the reading in the Green Salon of the Max Weber House. Here she is sharing her impressions.

On May 15, 2025, there was a very special reading and presentation of the new book “Frauen Lieben Lernen” (which translates both as “Women, Loving, Learning” and “Women love learning”) at the Max Weber House — a collection of texts by German-speaking female authors, some of whom live here in Heidelberg. Our Green Salon welcomed Claudia Klingenschmid, Claudia Kramatschek, Miriam Tag, and Sofie Morin, the main author, for an impressive evening. Sofie Morin guided us through the evening and took us on a journey into history. We paid a visit to three different female writers who are not as well known as they ought to be: Mascha Kaléko, Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and Ingeborg Bachmann. All were women of the twentieth century who experienced the Second World War — one fled, one died, and one continued to live in her homeland. These women are all different, yet connected through their writing, just like our present-day authors who introduced them.

That evening, we heard about Mascha Kaléko from Miriam Tag, a sociologist, philosopher, and who lives in Heidelberg. There were reflections on Annemarie Schwarzenbach by Claudia Klingenschmid, an Austrian artist and author living in Heidelberg, and interpretations of Ingeborg Bachmann, presented by Claudia Kramatschek, a well-known moderator and literary critic. The main author, Sofie Morin, who wrote about all fourteen different women in the book, is also an Austrian writer who lives and works in Heidelberg.

“Frauen Lieben Lernen” is a truly special book; I have never read anything like it. It is an open exchange between the main author and one of the thirteen other authors about these moving, German-speaking women who influenced history. These dialogues are written freely and earnestly. You feel as though you are overhearing a conversation between old friends. They give these women — some of whom died a long time ago — a voice, telling not only their stories but also their own thoughts about these influential figures. With each chapter, you get to know each author a little bit. It is like a window into the soul that exists only for a moment; you look inside and feel the emotions. They repeat feelings that many women share, in a special kind of words, they express what so many of us cannot, and they awaken memories from the deepest realms of our minds.

Through this book, I have also rediscovered a passion for German literature. As a non-native speaker of the German language, it can be difficult to feel comfortable with literature, and often you are unsure where to begin. This book took me by the hand and introduced me to a new world, with all its colours and uniqueness. And names like Mascha Kaléko and Annemarie Schwarzenbach, which I did not know before, have become some of my favourite authors. I was moved to read “Eine Frau zu Sehen” ("To See a Woman") by Annemarie Schwarzenbach and “Der Gott der kleinen Webfehler” ("The God of Small Weaving Mistakes") by Mascha Kaléko. The journeys I experienced through such books brought me a sense of comfort and renewed curiosity that I would not have found without this book.

In closing, I would like to thank the authors, the Literarische Gesellschaft Palais Boisserée, which organized the event, and all the other people who made that evening possible. They made me feel welcome in a field that can often seem inaccessible to beginners in the German language. I would recommend such events to all international students at the Heidelberg University. Take the opportunity to do something outside your usual activities where you can step into the German world. You won’t be perfect, but it offers possibilities you won’t find anywhere else.

Julie Lampron