Karin Michaelis

Overview

Karin Michaëlis born Randers, Jutland, Denmark March 20, 1872 (d. 1950). “The Conscience of Europe.” Prominent Danish writer; radical feminist; pacifist. Worked in famine relief, Austria, World War I. Early critic of Mussolini and Hitler, who banned her books. Took part in antiwar congress Amsterdam, 1932. Gave refuge to Germans, including Bertolt Brecht. Exiled herself, 1940.

Quotations

“There were so many people who had to flee from Germany, and they didn’t know where they should flee to, and some one or other had said to them: ‘Try Karin Michaëlis.’” (James Lyon, Hans-Peter Breuer, eds., Brecht Unbound, 1995, p. 247; photo allposters.com)