Background
Oda Schaefer was the daughter of Eberhard Kraus, one of the early Baltic writers and journalist, and his wife Alice Baertels, who came from a merchant family in Estonia.
Oda Schaefer was the daughter of Eberhard Kraus, one of the early Baltic writers and journalist, and his wife Alice Baertels, who came from a merchant family in Estonia.
Oda Schaefer attended a secondary school in Berlin and then went to a private arts school for training in graphic design.
She then worked as a commercial artist. The marriage ended after a short time in divorce. In 1926 Schaefer moved for family reasons to Liegnitz.
From 1928 Schaefer wrote fashion magazine articles, poems, and plays. by her appeared in the journal The Interior Kingdom, and the Frankfurter Newspaper.
They lived for a while in the middle of a forest and then in Switzerland, before going to Munich in 1950, where she freelanced for various newspapers and broadcasts. Schaefer"s literary work consists primarily of poetry in traditional forms inspired by the naturalist poet Wilhelm Lehmann and George von Vring.
With Horst Lange she wrote Trümmerliteratur of the post-war period along with the authors of the Group 47. Schaefer"s biography inspired her grand-nephew Chris Kraus for his feature film The Poll Diaries, with Paula Beer in the lead role.
Schaefer, a member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung in Darmstadt and the Poets, Playwrights, Editors, Essayists and Novelists association Center of the Federal Republic of Germany, received in 1951 a prize of the Academy of Sciences and Literature. In 1952, the Honorary Prize of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts. In 1955, Literature Prize from the Society for the Promotion of German Literature. In 1959, Literature Prize from the City of Munich. In 1964, the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class. In 1975, Literature Prize of the Cultural Committee of the Federal Association of German Industry. And in 1973, the Schwabing Art Prize.
During the Third Reich she was with Lange and Günter Eich in the circle around the literary magazine The Column, which was affiliated with Inner Immigration, a movement of writers and artists who were opposed to National Socialism but did not leave Germany.
Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung]
Schaefer was a member of the Reich Chamber.
