Renée Schwarzenbach was the daughter of Swiss General Ulrich Wille and Clara Countess Bismarck, which meant she was a granddaughter of Count Friedrich Wilhelm Bismarck (1783-1860), the famous German soldier, writer and diplomat. Her father was head of the Swiss army during World War 1.
They had five children. She lived an intensive life without compromise. Renée held political sympathies towards Germany, whether the Kaiser, Hitler or Adenauer was in power.
After World War 2 she helped out those Germans who had fled to Switzerland to escape the Allies.
During her many stays in Munich with her mistress, she saw the rise of Nazism as a way of overcoming the humiliating Treaty of Versailles.
She was a passionate horsewoman, photographer (which she first became interested in at the age of 14) and music-lover—in particular of Wagner.
