Harriet von Rathlef
Encyclopedia
Harriet Ellen Siderowna von Rathlef-Keilmann, (3 January 1887 – 1 May 1933), was a Latvian-born sculptor and writer of children's books who escaped to Germany
from the Baltic
provinces following the Russian Revolution of 1917
.
Von Rathlef was born to a prominent Jewish family in Latvia, then a province of the Russian Empire. She later converted to Catholicism and married Harald von Rathlef, a lieutenant in the Czarist Regiment of the Alexander Hussars. The couple had four children. The family escaped revolutionary Russia from Riga to Berlin on Dec. 28, 1918. She divorced her husband in 1922 and supported her children with the income from her illustrations.
Von Rathlef became a major proponent of Anna Anderson's
claim to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
. She befriended the claimant and wrote a series of articles about her.
Von Rathlef, who was involved in artistic circles and social causes in Berlin, was forced to resign from the Society of Berlin Women Artists when Adolf Hitler rose to power. Alarmed by the political developments in Nazi Germany, Von Rathlef hoped to leave the country. Before she could make definite plans, Von Rathlef died in Berlin on 1 May 1933 of a burst appendix
.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
from the Baltic
Baltic states
The term Baltic states refers to the Baltic territories which gained independence from the Russian Empire in the wake of World War I: primarily the contiguous trio of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania ; Finland also fell within the scope of the term after initially gaining independence in the 1920s.The...
provinces following the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
.
Von Rathlef was born to a prominent Jewish family in Latvia, then a province of the Russian Empire. She later converted to Catholicism and married Harald von Rathlef, a lieutenant in the Czarist Regiment of the Alexander Hussars. The couple had four children. The family escaped revolutionary Russia from Riga to Berlin on Dec. 28, 1918. She divorced her husband in 1922 and supported her children with the income from her illustrations.
Von Rathlef became a major proponent of Anna Anderson's
Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia...
claim to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna....
. She befriended the claimant and wrote a series of articles about her.
Von Rathlef, who was involved in artistic circles and social causes in Berlin, was forced to resign from the Society of Berlin Women Artists when Adolf Hitler rose to power. Alarmed by the political developments in Nazi Germany, Von Rathlef hoped to leave the country. Before she could make definite plans, Von Rathlef died in Berlin on 1 May 1933 of a burst appendix
Vermiform appendix
The appendix is a blind-ended tube connected to the cecum , from which it develops embryologically. The cecum is a pouchlike structure of the colon...
.