wiedler.ch

book (design) story #160

anna siemsen:
menschen und menschenkinder

urania-verlagsgesellschaft m.b.h., jena, 1929
printer: thüringer verlagsanstalt und druckerei g.m.b.h., jena
size: ?? x ?? cm
designer: (unknown)

anna siemsen (1882-1951) was a professor and socialist politician who run into troubles when the nazis rose to power. in march 1933 she emigrated to switzerland where she was able to stay and work by means of a fictitious marriage.

siemsen was a pedagoge, and this book is a truly internationalist anthology of children-related stories from all over the world by authors such as jack london, maxim gorki, rabindranath tagore, and others.

there are nice photos of children of different nations and races.

the uncredited book design is moderately modernist.

part 11 of walt whitman's famous poem salut du monde! which addresses all nations, races and religions (including jews) and ends with the line: each of us here as divinely as any is here. not surprisingly this and all other books by anna siemsen were banned by the nazis.