Henriette Hardenberg

 

1894 Margarete Rosenberg is born in Berlin on February 5, 1894.
1900-1912 Attends school in Berlin.
1912 Earliest poem preserved ("Die Seele drängt aus uns ...").
1913 First poetry publications in the expressionistist magazine Die Aktion. Close contact with the Berlin expressionist group around Franz Pfemfert, editor of Die Aktion. Friendship with Reinhard Sorge, Alfred Lichtenstein, Else Lasker-Schüler, Claire Studer-Goll, Ludwig Berger and Ludwig Meidner.
First publication of a poem under the pseudonym of Henriette Hardenberg on July 5.
1914 Meets Alfred Wolfenstein (*1883). First prose publications in Die Aktion. Publication of three poems in Die Weißen Blätter. Nurse in Berlin after the outbreak of World War I.
1916 Marriage to Alfred Wolfenstein. The couple moves to Munich where their son Frank is born. Intensive contacts with the artists and writers circle in Schwabing. Friendship with Rainer Maria Rilke, Johannes R. Becher, Gottfried Kölwel, Emmy Hennings, Friedrich Burschell, Karl Otten, Friedrich Eisenlohr, Ottomar Starke, Karl Jakob Hirsch, Alexander von Bernus, Ernst Toller and Oskar Maria Graf. Preparation of a volume of poetry.
Henriette Hardenberg in 1918
1918 Private reading soirees with Rilke. The poetry collection Neigungen is published by Roland-Verlag in Munich.
1921 Represented in the poetry anthology Verkündigung, edited by Rudolf Kayser, with four poems.
1922 Publication of three prose pieces in the Prager Presse. Meets Kurt Frankenschwerth (*1901).
1924 The Wolfensteins move from Munich to Berlin. Henriette Hardenberg is employed in the movie and fashion industries.
1925 Meets Rilke during a stay in Paris. Henriette Hardenberg finishes the last poem to be included in the planned collection Südliches Herz.
1929 Separation from Alfred Wolfenstein. Private secretary of American art professor Richard Offner, who plans an extensive work on early Florentine painting. Henriette Hardenberg will be involved in this project for thirty years.
1930 Divorce from Alfred Wolfenstein.
1935 Henriette Hardenberg visits Alfred Wolfenstein, then in exile in Prague.
1937 Flight to England. Henriette Hardenberg lives in London with Kurt Frankenschwerth.
1938 Marriage to Kurt Frankenschwerth.
1940 Employed in a photo shop because printing of Richard Offner's work is discontinued during the war.
1945 Alfred Wolfenstein commits suicide in Paris on January 22, 1945.
1948 Henriette Hardenberg becomes a British citizen.
1955 Two poems by Henriette Hardenberg are included in the anthology Lyrik des expressionistischen Jahrzehnts (Poetry of the Expressionist Decade) edited by Gottfried Benn.
1961 In the reprint of Die Aktion, Paul Raabe mentions Henriette Hardenberg in the commentary section.
1965 Henriette Hardenberg, Kurt Frankenschwerth and Frank Wolfenstein travel to Berlin in February on the occasion of the Alfred Wolfenstein exhibition and inauguration of the Wolfenstein Archive in the Academy of the Arts.
1973 A reprint of Henriette Hardenberg's poetry collection Neigungen is published.
1980-1984 Publication of new poems in the magazine Europäische Ideen, edited by Andreas W. Mytze.
1982 Death of Kurt Frankenschwerth.
1988 Publication of Dichtungen, a collection of Henriette Hardenberg's poetry, edited by Hartmut Vollmer, by Arche Verlag, Zurich.
1990 The Klagenfurt magazine Mnemosyne publishes six poems by Henriette Hardenberg written in 1989/90.
1993 Poems by Henriette Hardenberg are included in the anthology Wie bunt entfaltet sich mein Anderssein. Lyrikerinnen der zwanziger Jahre, edited by Anna Rheinsberg, and the anthology In roten Schuhen tanzt die Sonne sich zu Tod. Lyrik expressionistischer Dichterinnen, edited by Hartmut Vollmer.
Frank Wolfenstein dies on October 24, 1993.
Henriette Hardenberg dies on October 26, 1993.

This information is based on the book Henriette Hardenberg, Südliches Herz, Nachgelassene Dichtungen, edited by Hartmut Vollmer, published by Arche Verlag, Zurich in 1994.

Compiled by Johannes Beilharz in November 2000.

Henriette Hardenberg: Two poems | Poetry and poetic prose | German bio
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