Elsa Bernstein

Else/Elsa Bernstein-Porges (born Else Porges, pseudonym: Ernst Rosmer; October 28, 1866, Wien - July 2, 1949, Hamburg-Eimsbüttel) was an Austrian-German writer and dramatist of Jewish descent.

Life

Elsa Bernstein was a daughter of Heinrich Porges, the friend of Richard Wagner, and married Max Bernstein. She was educated at Munich; and, for a short time, on the stage. An affliction of the eyes forced her to retire, and she thenceforth devoted herself to dramatic literature. Shortly after her marriage in 1892 to Max Bernstein, she wrote her first play, "Wir Drei," which created considerable discussion. It was really a dramatized version of the matrimonial and sexual views of Taine and Zola. Her next plays fell rather flat: "Dämmerung," 1893; "Die Mutter Maria," 1894; "Tedeum," 1896; "Themistokles," 1897; and "Daguy Peters." But unbounded admiration was elicited by "Die Königskinder," 1895—a dramatic fairy-tale. Though its plot was simple, the beauty of the theme and its poetry were such as to class it with Ludwig Fulda's "Der Talisman."

Literary works

Under the pseudonym "Ernst Rosmer"

• Dämmerung (Schauspiel, 1893)
• Wir Drei (Drama 1893)
• Madonna (Novellen 1894)
• Königskinder (Märchendrama 1895; 1895 von Engelbert Humperdinck vertont)
• Tedeum (Komödie 1896)
• Themistokles (Tragödie 1897)
• Mutter Maria. Totengedicht in fünf Wandlungen (1900)
• Merete (1902)
• Dagny (drama) (Drama 1904)
• Johannes Herkner (Schauspiel 1904)

As "Elsa Bernstein"

• Nausikaa (Tragödie 1906)
• Maria Arndt (Schauspiel 1908)
• Achill (Tragödie 1910)
• Das Leben als Drama. Erinnerungen an Theresienstadt (Tagebuch aus dem KZ, posthum 1999)

References

• Jürgen Joachimsthaler: Max Bernstein. Kritiker, Schriftsteller, Rechtsanwalt (1854-1925). Frankfurt/M. et al. 1995. Biography about her husband, containing a lot of biographical material about her as well.
• Ulrike Zophoniasson-Baierl: Elsa Bernstein alias Ernst Rosmer. Bern et al. 1985.

Bibliography of the Jewish Encyclopedia

• Das Jüngste Deutschland, pp. 317-320;
• Kürschner, Deutscher Litteratur-Kalender, 1901, p. 91;
• Lexikon Deutscher Frauen der Feder, i. 61;
  • ib. ii. 203.S

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Isidore Singer & Edgar Mels (1901–1906). "Elsa Bernstein". Jewish Encyclopedia. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=903&letter=B.