Memorial Page for Hilde Domin (née Hildegard Dina Löwenstein)

Hilde Domin, born Hildegard Dina Löwenstein (27 July 1909 in Cologne; died 22 February 2006 in Heidelberg), was a German-Jewish poet, writer, translator and literary theorist. Her work is closely connected with exile, return, language and the question of how hope remains possible after loss and displacement.

Cologne and studies

Domin grew up in Cologne. Her father, Eugen Siegfried Löwenstein, was a lawyer; her mother, Paula Löwenstein, was a trained singer. After finishing school she began studying law and later turned to economics, social and political science, and philosophy lectures. She studied in Heidelberg, Cologne, Berlin and Florence.

Italy and exile

In 1932 she went to Italy with Erwin Walter Palm. After the National Socialists came to power, Italy became her first place of exile; in 1935 Domin completed her studies in Florence, and in 1936 the couple married. Italy's racial laws made that place unsafe as well. In 1939, Domin and Palm fled via Paris and England; in 1940 they reached the Dominican Republic.

Santo Domingo

In Santo Domingo, Domin worked as a teacher, translator and lecturer. There, in the 1950s, she began writing in German. Her pen name Hilde Domin refers to the country that offered her refuge. The years in the Caribbean became a starting point for motifs such as foreignness, loss and new belonging.

Return and first books

In 1954, Domin returned to Germany, at first with changing stays. In 1959, her first poetry collection, Nur eine Rose als Stütze, appeared. From 1961 onward she lived in Heidelberg. Poetry collections, essays, translations, edited volumes and prose works such as Das zweite Paradies followed. With Wozu Lyrik heute, she also wrote about the role of poems and readers.

Heidelberg

Domin remained connected with Heidelberg until the end of her life. The city made her an honorary citizen and dedicates exhibitions, plaques and literary programmes to her. Her honours included the Nelly Sachs Prize, the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and high distinctions from North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and the Dominican Republic. Hilde Domin died on 22 February 2006 in Heidelberg and was buried at the Bergfriedhof.