Lisa Tetzner

A plaque in Zittau noting her place of birth

Lisa Tetzner (born in Zittau, Saxony on November 10, 1894; died July 2, 1963 in Carona, Switzerland) was a German-born Swiss children's writer known for her work with fairy-tales.^[1] In 1924 she married Kurt Held, a Jewish Communist. They fled to Switzerland to escape the Nazis and in 1948 became a Swiss citizen. Her book, Die schwarzen Brüder was published in 1941. The Swiss censored her work fearing it may antagonise the wartime German government.^[2] Later her "socialist fairy-tales" became popular in East Germany.^[3] One of her best-known works is The Children From No. 67 series written as a collaboration with her husband.^[4]

References

1. The New York Times *(January 20, 1924)
2. A past without shadow: constructing the past in German books for children by Zohar Shavit, pg 9
3. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales by Donald Haase, 410
4. Boyds Mill Press Profile