0:00

Before we get started, a quick warning. This

0:02

episode contains mentions of suicide

0:04

and strong language. Hello

0:11

from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan

0:13

and this is Wamanica. Historically,

0:16

women have been told to make themselves smaller,

0:18

to diminish themselves. Some

0:21

have used that idea to their advantage, disappearing

0:23

into new identities. For

0:25

others, a disappearance was the end to their stories,

0:28

but the beginning of a new chapter in their legacies.

0:31

This month, we're telling the stories of these women.

0:34

We're talking about disappearing acts. In

0:37

nineteen forty, the British newspaper The Daily

0:39

Telegraph ran a story a

0:42

best selling German author had taken

0:44

her own life while an exile in Holland.

0:47

But there was never a funeral, not

0:50

even a casket, and

0:52

the report left people to wonder how

0:54

had a once celebrated author's story and

0:57

did in suicide, and more

0:59

importantly, was that even true.

1:03

Let's talk about Ermgard Coin.

1:07

Ermgard was born in nineteen oh five in Berlin.

1:09

We don't know many details about her early life,

1:12

but we do know that she began her career as an

1:14

actress in the early nineteen twenties. But

1:17

Ermgard's true calling was the written word.

1:20

In nineteen thirty one, she published her debut

1:22

novel, Jilgi One of Us. The

1:25

story was of a poor German girl on a quest

1:27

to find her birth mother. Armguard

1:30

was hailed as an exciting new talent in German

1:32

literature. The New York Times

1:34

wrote in its review that the book stands

1:36

out in delightful contrast to the books written

1:38

by men because of the wholesome freshness

1:41

of its presentation and views. And

1:43

when the renowned German modernist author Alfred

1:46

dr Blin met Ermgard, he had this

1:48

to say, if she writes even

1:50

half as well as she speaks, she'll be the best

1:52

female novelist Germans had yet. But

1:55

Ermgard was launching her literary career at

1:57

a dangerous time, right as the Nation

2:00

Party was coming to power in Germany, and

2:03

Ermgard had no tolerance for it. She

2:05

wasn't explicitly critical of the Nazi Party,

2:08

but her writing showcased a strong distaste

2:10

for the way the regime was degrading German culture

2:13

and the quality of daily life in Berlin. In

2:16

nineteen thirty two, Ermgard published her second

2:19

novel, The Artificial Silk Girl. It

2:22

chronicled the efforts of a young woman in Berlin

2:24

to become a burlesque star. The

2:27

novel's heroine, a working class nineteen

2:29

year old named Doris, does

2:31

everything possible to reach a life of luxury.

2:34

No spoilers here, but Doris's

2:36

story does not have a happy ending. Armguard

2:40

used Doris's journey to criticize the aspects

2:43

of life under the Third Reich that felt most suffocating.

2:46

She was especially critical of the Nazis

2:48

version of German womanhood. She

2:51

wrote, If a young woman from money

2:53

married an old man because of money and

2:55

nothing else, and makes love to him

2:57

for hours and has this pious look

2:59

on her face, she's called a German

3:01

mother and a decent woman. If

3:04

a young woman without money sleeps with a

3:06

man with no money because he has smooth skin

3:08

and she likes him, she's a whore and a bitch.

3:12

It was quotes like that one that put Ermgard in hot

3:14

water. Commercially, her books

3:16

did extremely well. The Artificial

3:18

Silk Girl sold out its first printing of fifty

3:21

thousand copies, but Nazi officials

3:23

thought Ermguard's work was anti German and

3:25

casting vulgar aspersions against German

3:27

womanhood. She was one of

3:29

many authors during the nineteen thirties to have her

3:31

works labeled as asphalt literature,

3:34

basically meaning that they were foreign and not representative

3:37

of true and proper German culture.

3:40

Her books were blacklisted and

3:43

burned. At

3:45

first, Ermgard fought back. She

3:48

tried to sue the Nazi Party for loss of income

3:50

after they pulled her books from shelves, but

3:52

she was unsuccessful and only put

3:54

more of a target on her back. The

3:57

Gestapo pulled her in for questioning, and

4:00

in nineteen thirty six she fled the country for

4:02

Belgium. She

4:04

spent the next few years in exile, floating

4:06

from France to the Netherlands, continuing to

4:08

write all the while. She published

4:11

several novels during this period, including

4:13

nineteen thirty seven's After Midnight. This

4:16

book is darker and more directly hostile

4:19

to Adolf Hitler in the Nazi Party. It

4:22

reflects Ermguard's growing despair at the fascist

4:24

takeover happening in Germany and

4:26

the hatred, paranoia, and desperation had

4:29

inspired in people around her. She

4:31

wrote, I don't wonder at it

4:33

anymore when I see people being crazy and unhappy.

4:36

I only wonder at it when I see them acting

4:39

like normal people. Eventually,

4:41

Ermgard could no longer find commercial success

4:43

with her published works. She'd

4:46

fallen from fame and favor in Germany. Strict

4:49

censorship kept readers from discovering her

4:51

stories. She'd also

4:53

confessed in personal letters to engaging in

4:55

self harm and struggling with alcoholism.

4:59

When her suicide was reported in nineteen

5:01

forty, it seemed plausible enough,

5:04

yet another exiled writer driven to despair

5:06

during the war, But

5:11

Ermgard wasn't actually dead. Once

5:13

the rumors of her death had begun to circulate, possibly

5:16

initiated by Ermgard herself, she

5:19

seized on the opportunity to disappear. She

5:22

convinced a bureaucrat to make a false passport

5:24

for her and snuck back into Germany. To

5:27

the outside world, Ermgard was gone,

5:29

buried, but in reality she

5:31

was living in Kulan with her parents, flying

5:34

under the radar. She

5:36

remained hidden from public life for the next several

5:39

decades, only visiting with friends

5:41

she was sure wouldn't give her away. But

5:44

in the nineteen seventies, Ermgard's books experienced

5:46

a resurgence in popularity. A

5:49

new generation of German youth wanted to make

5:51

sense of the war. The Holocaust, how

5:54

people lived under the Third Reich, and

5:56

Ermgard's books provided insight into just

5:58

that. Her novels were reissued

6:01

and she experienced a second chance at literary

6:03

acclaim with the new audience. Ermgard

6:06

died in nineteen eighty two. In

6:09

an interview after her death, Ermgard's daughter

6:11

Martina recalled her mother's lifelong

6:13

regret at how her career had been sidetracked

6:16

by the Third Reich. She always

6:18

said that the Nazis took her best years from

6:20

her.

6:26

All months, we're talking about disappearing acts.

6:28

For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram

6:30

at Wamanica Podcast special

6:33

thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.

6:36

Talk to you tomorrow