Nelly Sachs, (10 December 1891, Berlin - 12 May 1970, Stockholm) was a German poet and dramatist who was transformed by the Nazi experience from a dilettante into a poignant spokesperson for the grief and yearnings of her fellow Jews.

Born in Schöneberg, Berlin in 1891, she fled in 1940 to Sweden. She was a friend of Selma Lagerlöf. When, with Shmuel Yosef Agnon, she was awarded the 1966 Nobel Prize for Literature, she observed that Agnon represented Israel whereas "I represent the tragedy of the Jewish people."

On her passing in 1970, Nelly Sachs was interred in the Norra begravningsplatsen in Stockholm.

A memorial plaque commemorates her Birthplace, Maaßenstraße 14, in Schöneberg, Berlin.

References

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