Karen Gershon
Illustration — Karen Gershon Karen Gershon, born Kaethe Loewenthal (29 August 1923 – 24 March 1993) was a German-born British writer and poet. She escaped to Britain in December 1938. Her book We came as Children: A Collective Autobiography uses a number of testimonies of kindertransport to construct a single account.
Also recorded as Kaethe Loewenthal
Karen Gershon
רות דרעי · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Full name
- Kaethe Loewenthal.
- Born
- 1923 · Bielefeld.
- Died
- 1993 · London Chest Hospital.
- Nationality
- Germany · United Kingdom · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- poet · writer · historian · novelist
- Languages
- English
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Karen Gershon Karen Gershon, born Kaethe Loewenthal (29 August 1923 – 24 March 1993) was a German-born British writer and poet. She escaped to Britain in December 1938. Her book We came as Children: A Collective Autobiography uses a number of testimonies of kindertransport to construct a single account.
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wikidata · Q15493199 · wikipedia · Karen Gershon
In this article
Poetry
Poetry
One of her best-known poems, I was not there, describes her feelings of guilt at not being there when her parents were murdered by the Nazis.
• The Relentless Year New Poets 1959, Eyre & Spottiswoode 1960 • Selected Poems Gollancz 1966 (published in the United States by Harcourt Brace & World in 1967) • Legacies and Encounters Gollancz 1972 • My Daughters, My Sisters Gollancz 1975 • Coming Back from Babylon Gollancz 1979 • Collected Poems Macmillan, Papermac 1990 • Grace Notes (with drawings by Stella Tripp), Happy Dragons Press, 2002
Non-Fiction
Non-Fiction
• We came as children (Wir kamen als Kinder) London, Gollancz 1966, republished Macmillan, Papermac 1989 (published in the US by Harcourt Brace & World in 1967 and in Germany by Alibaba Verlag in 1988) • Postscript: A Collective Account of the Lives of Jews in West Germany Since the Second World War Gollancz 1969
Fiction
Fiction
• Burn Helen Harvester Press 1980 • The Bread of Exile Gollancz 1985 • The Fifth Generation (Die Fünfte Generation) Gollancz 1987 (published in Germany Alibaba Verlag 1988)
Other
Other
• A Tempered Wind (Autobiography, Vol.2, 1938–1943) Northwestern University Press 2009 • A Lesser Child (Das Unterkind) (Autobiography, Vol.1) Peter Owen 1993 (published in Germany Rowohlt 1992) • Only Meant to Comfort (Mich nur zu trösten bestimmt) Karin Fischer, Edition Roter Stein 2000 (in Germany)
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1923
Karen Gershon was born on 29 August 1923.
1993
Karen Gershon died at London Chest Hospital.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- England
Named but not plotted · 2
Bielefeld.
Birth place
London Chest Hospital.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q15493199: Karen Gershon
General reference · Wikidata
reference work
- “Karen Gershon”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.J. M. Ritchie, work cited, page 4
Bibliography printed in the source article · 3
- Peter Lawson (2006): Anglo-Jewish Poetry from Isaac Rosenberg to Elaine Feinstein. Pub. Vallentine Mitchell.
- J. M. Ritchie, German-speaking Exiles in Great Britain, Rodopi, Amsterdam, 2001, .
- Literary estate of Karen Gershon (see External Links).
References
Citations
References
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authority record
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,427 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Karel van de WoestijneAuthor
- Karel van Mander the ElderAuthor
- Karen AabyeAuthor
- Karen ArmstrongAuthor
- Karen HorneyAuthor
- Karen Joy FowlerAuthor
- Karen KavaleryanAuthor
- Karen LloydAuthor
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