Lisa Tetzner with a group of children, circa 1919.Christiane Dornheim-Tetzner
“I’ve become a wandering Scheherazade…”
Lisa Tetzner, who co-authored the famous books for young people ‘The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle’ and ‘The Black Brothers’ earned a living in her younger years as a wandering storyteller.
Peter Erismann is co-curator of the exhibition ‘Red-haired Zora and the Black Brothers’ at the National Museum Zurich in 2023.
For Lisa Tetzner, who was born in Zittau, Saxony, in 1894, the last year of the First World War – 1918 – turned out to be pivotal to her future career. Following a sheltered childhood overshadowed by illness growing up in a middle-class, conservative family, she went to Berlin to train as a social worker. However, Lisa Tetzner didn’t find the occupation as fulfilling as she had hoped. Her desire to express herself artistically and to enjoy unlimited freedom was growing ever stronger so she toyed with the idea of becoming a storyteller.The Tetzner family: Lisa Tetzner with her mother Pauline Frieda (1873–1955), brother Hanns-Leo (1897–1969), father Oskar Arthur (1886–1949), circa 1905.Christiane Dornheim-TetznerLisa Tetzner as a young woman, circa 1916.Christiane Dornheim-TetznerTwo years earlier, Lisa Tetzner had been captivated by a Danish storyteller travelling through Germany. She attended speech training in Berlin and voice training with the acting school at Max Reinhardt’s Deutsches Theater, and was a guest student in Emil Milan’s elocution classes at the University of Berlin. This expert would become her mentor on the path to becoming a storyteller. As early as November 1916, she had her first public stage performances, usually during charity events in Zittau. She later recalled:
The desire to write, to live, and to dream of art and perhaps to one day become an artist myself, was growing within me. I was relishing being able to do what I wanted. I felt unshackled from the confines of home.
Lisa Tetzner used these letters and posters to advertise her performances.Christiane Dornheim-Tetzner
She would regularly send reports and letters to her ‘fairytale father’ Diederichs, who compiled them into a single volume (without her knowledge) and published them in 1919. The pictures were done by painter and illustrator Maria Braun, who worked on many of Lisa Tetzner’s books. The sequel Aus Spielmannsfahrten und Wandertagen. Ein Bündel Berichte followed in 1922, and Im Land der Industrie zwischen Rhein und Ruhr. Ein buntes Buch von Zeit und Menschen in 1923.The 1919 volume contains a report and letters from Lisa Tetzner to her ‘fairytale father’ Eugen Diederichs. He initially published the book without her knowledge.Eugen Diederichs publishing houseThe German Ministry of Arts and Education later recognised Lisa Tetzner for her cultural contribution with a hefty cash prize and asked her to also travel to the occupied Rhine and Ruhr regions. This recognition from the government was confirmation for the young Tetzner that she was on the right track and that the future was bright.
And it certainly was: in 1926 she edited Die schönsten Märchen der Welt für 365 und 1 Tag, which was published by Eugen Diederichs’ publishing house. In this impressive and comprehensive volume, she looks back at her experiences as a storyteller and incorporates some of her own research. The compilation was published for decades in numerous editions and translations, and is still available today.Lisa Tetzner, Die schönsten Märchen der Welt für 365 und 1 Tag, with illustrations by Maria Braun, publishing house Eugen Diederichs, Jena, 1926.Wikimedia
Written more than 80 years ago in the Swiss canton of Ticino, two particular novels for young people continue to touch and move their readers. They are Die rote Zora und ihre Bande (published in English as ‘The Outsiders of Uskoken Castle’ and featuring the red-haired Zora of the German title) and Die Schwarzen Brüder (‘The Black Brothers’). Behind these two classics are two German authors, both writing and life partners, who fled to Ticino when the Nazis came to power. In their work, Lisa Tetzner and Kurt Kläber also processed parts of their personal histories, conveying issues such as poverty and social injustice to their young readers. The exhibition traces Tetzner and Kläber's life in Germany and Switzerland, and examines what makes their famous books so popular.
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