Title
Preview
Pseudonym
Lucifer, Raa Bonares, Allan Loeben, Louise Charlotte Marten
Biography
Lu Märten was a German journalist, writer, art critic, social theorist, and feminist. She was born in Charlottenburg on September 24, 1879. By the time she reached her early 20s, she had witnessed the deaths of three siblings, her father, and her mother from tuberculosis. Her own poor health kept her from consistently attending school, but she and her brother completed their education through home study. Märten’s experiences with illness and death shaped the way she wrote.
Märten began publishing articles about art production, division of labor, and machine work in a weekly magazine called The Help. She also created lyrical pieces, a novel, and plays. In 1918 she worked in the Russian news agency in Berlin and became a member of the KPD two years later. After Hitler came to power, she was unable to publish anything socially-critical; she wrote film scripts instead. After 1945 Märten attempted to write about the same topics she had covered before, but they were no longer relevant. She did continue to write on other topics. She died in Berlin-Steglitz on August 12, 1970.
More information: