Marta Feuchtwanger – An Emancipated Woman

Marta Feuchtwanger, born Marta Löffler in 1891 in Munich, represented the undisputed center of gravitation in the exiled community of the forties in Los Angeles.
She and her husband, the writer Lion Feuchtwanger, opened their home, the Villa Aurora in the Pacific Palisades as a venue for gathering and intellectual exchange.
After her husband’s death, the Villa remained a societal center thanks to Marta Feuchtwanger. A collection of extensive correspondence is proof of her close friendship with many exiles in California.
In 1980 the University of Southern California (USC) awarded her an honorary doctorate. Marta Feuchtwanger remained poitically and culturally active until her death in 1987.

The event at Literaturhaus Berlin in honor of Marta Feuchtwanger is part of the 6th International Feuchtwanger Conference, held October 24 through 26 at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
It is part of a year-long program called “Destroyed Diversity” –an initiative by the Berlin Senate, commemorating the power grab by the National Socialists in 1933 and the November pogroms in 1938. The series deals with the National Socialists’ destruction of the diverse society in Berlin starting in 1933.

The program includes an interview Reinhart Hoffmeister did with Marta Feuchtwanger for ZDF and a talk by State Secretary Hella Dunger-Löper about Marta Feuchtwanger in Berlin. Finally a discussion between Journalist Marianne Heuwagen, who knew Marta Feuchtwanger personally and Alexandra Tyrolf, a researcher on “women in exile” will illustrate the life and impact of this exceptional woman.