Drygalski, Irma von

NOVELIST (GERMANY)
BORN 3 Dec 1892, Berlin: Charlottenburg - DIED 4 Mar 1953, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg: Handschuhsheim
BIRTH NAME Drygalski, Irma Johanna Lydia
GRAVE LOCATION Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg: Bergfriedhof, Rohrbacher Strasse (Abteilung J)

Irma Drygalski was born in Berlin as the daughter of the royal premier lieutenant Franz Heinrich von Drygalski (1866-1914). Her mother Helena Sybilla Mezger was a daughter of the Dutch doctor Johann Georg Mezger (1838-1909). The family often moved and when they went from Rastatt to Metz in 1911 she stayed behind to attend the Schauspielschule Karlsruhe.

In 1914 her father died in the First World War and in 1916 her fiance was killed in the war as well. Late in 1916 she started working for the Red Cross as a nurse in hospitals in Galicia and Romania until 1918. In 1919 she married Herbert Derwein, the future city archivist of Heidelberg. In Heidelberg she worked as a free lance writer for the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung.

In 1927 her comedy novella "Flipp Woller" was published and it was followed by "Im Schatten des heiligen Bergs. Sechs Novellen um Heidelberg" in 1928 and by her novel "Der Bauernprophet", also in 1928. Her play "Luther in Heidelberg" was performed in Heidelberg. In 1935 she received the Dietrich-Eckart-Preis. Another novel, "Rineck. Traum und Fluch der Landfahrer" was published in 1937. She died in 1953 in Heidelberg.

Family
• Husband: Derwein, Herbert (1919-1953)

Images

The grave of Herbert Derwein at the Bergfriedhof, Heidelberg.
Picture by Androom (21 Aug 2010)

 

Sources
Irma von Drygalski - Wikipedia (DE)


Du Maurier, George

Published: 25 Feb 2024
Last update: 25 Feb 2024