21 Facts About Etta Federn

Etta Federn born in Vienna, Austria, to a distinguished Jewish family.

Etta Federn's mother, Ernestine Federn, was a member of the women's suffrage movement in Austria.

Etta Federn's father, Salomon Federn, was a prominent doctor and pioneer in the monitoring of blood pressure.

Etta Federn's paternal grandfather Elias Bunzelfedern was a well-known liberal rabbi in Prague.

Etta Federn's sister Else was a social worker in Vienna, active in the Settlement Movement.

Etta Federn's brother Paul was a psychoanalyst and, with colleague Alfred Adler a follower of Sigmund Freud.

In Vienna and Berlin, Etta Federn studied literary history, German philology and Ancient Greek.

Etta Federn worked in many genres, publishing articles, biographies, literary studies and poetry.

Etta Federn published 23 books in Germany, among them translations from the Danish, Russian, Bengali, Ancient Greek, Yiddish and English.

Etta Federn wrote a young adult novel, Ein Sonnenjahr, as well as an adult novel that remained unpublished.

Etta Federn wrote biographies of Dante Alighieri and Christiane Vulpius.

Etta Federn contributed to various anarchist newspapers and journals related to the Free Workers' Union of Germany.

In Berlin, Etta Federn met and translated several Polish-born Jewish poets who wrote in Yiddish.

In 1932, Etta Federn left Berlin, realizing that under the Nazis she would no longer be able to publish her writing.

Etta Federn moved with her sons to Barcelona, Spain, where she joined the anarchist movement Mujeres Libres, which provided such services as maternity centers, daycare centers, and literacy training to women.

Etta Federn learned Spanish and became director of four progressive schools in the city of Blanes, educating both teachers and children in secular values and antimilitarism.

Etta Federn denied that her palm reading had any connection.

Etta Federn was held in internment camps as a foreign refugee.

Etta Federn had two sons, Hans and Michael, one from each marriage.

Etta Federn spent her final years in Paris, supported in part by her relatives in the USA and doing palm readings based on her psychological insights.

The play he based loosely on Etta Federn was first performed at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, and has since been performed in many countries, including Ireland, the Netherlands, Cyprus, and France.