Sibylla Schwarz

• Illustration — Sibylla's baroque house in Greifswald. Sibylla Schwarz was the daughter of Christian Schwarz (1581–1648), mayor of Greifswald, and Regina Schwarz. Her life was relatively untroubled until the Thirty Years' War reached Greifswald in 1627 and her mother suddenly died in 1630. She began to write poetry at the age of seven. Her verse reflects the difficult times in the middle of the Thirty Years' War, of which she saw neither the beginning nor the end. Greifswald was first occupied by Wallenstein and then by the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus. Important themes in her work include friendship, love, war and death. In 1638 she suddenly fell ill and died at the age of 17. Her verse was published posthumously in 1650 by her teacher Samuel Gerlach under the title Deutsche Poëtische Gedichte in two parts containing over 100 poems. She was famous as the "Pomeranian Sappho", but her work fell into oblivion in the 18th century. Literary historians began to pay renewed attention to her in the 19th century as one of the few notable female writers of Baroque literature in German.

• Sibyllen Schwarzin/ Vohn Greiffswald aus Pommern/ Deutsche Poëtische Gedichte/ Nuhn Zum ersten mahl/ auß ihren eignen Handschrifften/ herauß gegeben und verleget. Danzig 1650. (Digitalisat im Internet Archive) • Sibylle Schwarz: Deutsche Poëtische Gedichte. Facsimile of the edition of 1650. Edited with an afterword by Helmut W. Ziefle. Bern, Frankfurt am Main, Las Vegas: Peter Lang, 1980.

Sibylla Schwarz is recorded with the occupation writer. Recorded as a citizen of Germany.