My grateful thanks to Penelope Monkhouse+ for the original post and to AC Benus** for his help with updating this post and for his wonderful translatiion work
She grew up in Altenburg and married the school teacher Franz Bettingen from Krefeld in 1885. The family lived in Krefeld for 24 years until Franz Bettingen's death, after which they moved to Jena.
Frida and Franz had a son who was killed in 1914 in the early part of the First World War, which led to serious psychological problems for her. From 1917 onwards she stayed in sanatoriums several times.
In 1921 Frida spent some time in a psychiatric clinic in Jena, returned home but was sent there again in 1923. Her main poetry collections were Eva und Abel. Kriegsjahr 1918, den Müttern zugeeignet. 1919; Gedichte. 1922; Himmelsbürde. 1937
Frida died on 1st May 1924 in the Jena Psychiatric Hospital. Her third volume of poetry, Himmelsbürde, was published posthumously in the magazine “Das Gedicht. Blätter für die Dichtung” .
“Frida’s poetry collection “Eva and Abel. War year 1918”, dedicated to mothers, was published by Bagel, Düsseldorf, Germany in 1919.
The writer AC Benus* has very kindly translated one of Frida's poems for us:
"Von den Müttern"
Ich will von den Müttern reden,
die ihre Söhne hingaben.
Von denen will ich reden,
die ihren Schmerz hintragen
durch graue Tage,
und das Netzwerk vieler Sorgen.
Eingeschlossen
in die köstlichen Urnen ihres Wollens.
Sie tasten nicht in das zukünftige Land.
Sie wohnen darin.
Wenn die Nacht die Fenster des Hauses blendet,
öffnen sie die schweigenden Gemächer ihrer Seele.
Ihre Hände halten kleine, leblose Dinge.
Vergilbte Kinderbilder,
ihre Seelen liegen nackt –
hinströmend –
im Schoße des geliebten Namens.
Sie stehen an den talwärts fließenden
Wassern des Lebens.
Ohne Bitterkeit.
Hinwachsend über die verdunkelten Sterne
ihres Geschickes.
"For the War Mothers" - written in 1916
I will now speak of the mothers,
those who gave their sons to the war.
I demand to speak of those
who valiantly carry pain
through gray days of terror,
and their network of diverse cares.
Sealed away in
the exquisite urns of their wants and willpower.
They do not blindly grope for a future world.
They live in it now.
When night comes and shades the windows of their homes,
each will open up the deathly still chambers of their souls.
Within their hands, they grasp at small, lifeless objects.
Yellowed pictures of children,
their spirits are then laid bare –
burst open –
in the cradling lap of a loved one’s name.
They stand besides the waters of life
washing down valleys.
Without bitterness.
Ascending one step at a time over the blackened stars
that are now their lot.
Sources:
Some of the information for this panel was collected, translated and contributed by Penelope Monkhouse from Germany.
+Penelope Monkhouse (*1952) is a German-British scientist living in Schwetzingen/Germany and is a granddaughter of the novelist, dramatist and literary critic Allan Monkhouse. Literature of the early 20thcentury is one of her chief non-scientific interests.
**AC Benus is an author, poet, translator and historian. He is the author of "The Thousandth Regiment: A Translation of and Commentary on Hans Ehrenbaum-Degele’s War Poems” by AC Benus (AC Benus, San Francisco, 2020). Along with Hans's story, the book includes original poems as well as translations into English by AC Benus. ISBN: 978-1657220584 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1657220583
