Else Ury

German writer and children's book author whose best-known character is the blonde doctor's daughter Annemarie Braun, whose life from childhood to old age is told in the ten volumes of the highly successful Nesthäkchen series. The books, the six-part TV series Nesthäkchen (1983), based on the first three volumes, as well as the new DVD edition (2005) caught the attention of millions of readers and viewers. During Ury's lifetime Nesthäkchen und der Weltkrieg (Nesthäkchen and the World War), the fourth volume, was the most popular. Else Ury was a member of the German Bürgertum (middle class). She was pulled between patriotic German citizenship and Jewish cultural heritage. This situation is reflected in her writings, although the Nesthäkchen books make no references to Judaism.

With over thirty-nine books Else Ury was not only one of the most productive female writers of her time, she was also one of the most successful. The combination of an educated mind, humour and compassionate femininity made her books into best-sellers and she was highly celebrated. Millions of her fans bought her books, heard them read on the radio, attended her receptions, and read her newspaper columns. In the Weimar Republic, Else Ury had achieved superstar status.

By 1939, Else Ury's situation in Germany had become untenable, and she had no hope that it would improve. Early that year she tried to market her work in England and the US, aspiring to establish an economic basis for emigration. Her attempts failed, and the outbreak of World War II, 1 September 1939, ended all her contacts and hopes.

As a Jew during the Holocaust, Ury was barred from publishing, stripped of her possessions, deported to Auschwitz, and murdered the day she arrived, on 13 January 1943, aged 65.