Flight and Metamorphosis – Nelly Sachs, Writer

The scenography of this travelling exhibition visualises the mental images and emotional states of the poet and Nobel Laureate Nelly Sachs, who in 1940 fled from Berlin to Stockholm on one of the last passenger planes. Flight, persecution and constant threats from the National Socialists resulted in the poet suffering panic attacks and needing psychiatric treatment. A large portion of her poetic output was written in a 4 m2 alcove within her apartment in Stockholm. A reconstruction of this »ship’s cabin« constitutes the center of the exhibition. Supported by: German Federal Cultural Foundation, Jubilee Fund of the Swedish National Bank, Swedish Academy, Stockholm, German Academy for Language and Literature, German Lottery Foundation