Rahel Antonie Friederike Varnhagen von Ense () née Levin, later Robert; (19 May 1771 – 7 March 1833) was a German writer who hosted one of the most prominent salons in Europe during the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

She is the subject of a celebrated biography, Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1957), by Hannah Arendt. Arendt cherished Varnhagen as her "closest friend, though she ha[d] been dead for some hundred years". The asteroid 100029 Varnhagen is named in her honour.

Life and works

Rahel Levin was born to a wealthy Jewish family in Berlin as the eldest daughter of merchant-banker Levin Markus (Löb Cohen, 1723–1790) and Chaie Levin Markus (d. 1809). Rahel had four siblings: Marcus Robert-Tornow (born Mordechai Levin, 1772–1826), a banker; Ludwig Robert (born Louis Liepmann Levin, 1778–1846), a writer; Rose Asser (née Levin, 1781–1853) and Moritz Robert-Tornow (born Meier Levin, 1785–1846), a merchant.thumb|Portrait of Rahel Varnhagen. Pencil drawing by [[Wilhelm Hensel, 1822.]]

She became close friends with Dorothea and Henriette, daughters of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn. Through them she got to know Henriette Herz, with whom she would become intimately associated throughout her life, moving in the same intellectual spheres. Together with Herz and her cousin, Sara Grotthuis née Meyer, she hosted one of the famous Berlin salons of the 1800s. Her home became the meeting place for artists, poets and intellectuals such as Schlegel, Schelling, Steffens, Schack, Schleiermacher, Alexander and Wilhelm von Humboldt, Motte Fouqué, Karl Gustaf von Brinckmann, Ludwig Tieck, Jean Paul, and Friedrich Gentz. During a visit to Carlsbad in 1795 she was introduced to Goethe, whom she met again in Frankfurt am Main in 1815.

It was the time of the romantic cult of friendship. Rahel lived intensely, knew the highs of enthusiasm and the lows of despair. She went out of her way for her friends, giving advice and helping when it came to secret love affairs or illegitimate children. An ardent lover herself, she experienced two passionate love affairs: the first with Count Karl von Finckenstein, the second with the Spanish diplomat Don Rafael Eugenio de Urquijo. Both relationships were broken off after lengthy engagements. A few of her essays were published in Das Morgenblatt, Das Schweizerische Museum, and Der Gesellschafter; in 1830, her Denkblätter einer Berlinerin was published in Berlin. Her husband, Karl August, edited and published her correspondence in the 20 years after her death. Her correspondence with David Veit and with Karl August was published in Leipzig, in 1861 and 1874–1875, respectively.

thumb|The grave of Rahel Varnhagen in Berlin

Rahel Varnhagen died in Berlin in 1833. Her grave is in the Dreifaltigkeitsfriedhof I Berlin-Kreuzberg. Her husband published two memorial volumes containing selections from her work: Rahel, ein Buch des Andenkens für ihre Freunde (Rahel, a Memorial Book for her Friends; 3 vols., 1834; new ed., 1903) and Galerie von Bildnissen aus Rahels Umgang (Gallery of Portraits from Rahel's Circle; 2 vols., 1836).

Relations with Judaism

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia (1906), "Rahel always showed the greatest interest in her former co-religionists, endeavouring by word and deed to better their position, especially during the anti-Semitic outburst in Germany in 1819. On the day of her funeral Varnhagen sent a considerable sum of money to the Jewish poor of Berlin."

Amos Elon wrote about Rahel Varnhagen in his 2002 book The Pity of It All: A History of the Jews in Germany, 1743-1933:

This has alternatively been understood not as Varnhagen rejecting her Jewish roots, but as resenting the fact they were a barrier to entry into society. Thus, she was forced to prove that, in spite of being Jewish, she was still a valuable German citizen.

Rahel's husband published an account of her deathbed scene, which Amos Elon described as "stylized and possibly overdramatised", including her alleged last words:

The poet Ludwig Robert was her brother and she corresponded extensively with him. Her sister Rosa was married to David Assur Assing. Ludmilla Assing and Ottilie Assing were her nieces-in-law.

Notes

References

  • Official website of the Varnhagen Society, Cologne (in German)
  • Annotated bibliographic entry for Hannah Arendt's Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess from the Center for Cultural Judaism
  • Website of the Centro Studi Rahel Levin, Turin (in Italian and German)
  • Rahel Varnhagen: The Salon Life, Video Lecture by Dr. Henry Abramson
  • Website of Prof. Deborah Hertz