Friederike Kempner

The daughter of a well-off family from Kępno (German: Kempen), Kempner was born in Opatów, then part of the Prussian Grand Duchy of Posen (today Poland).

Early in life, she developed an interest in general humanitarian questions, especially in hygiene, as well as in reforms of the prison system and the abolition of solitary confinement.

Kempner left a comprehensive oeuvre of pamphlets, as well as several novellas and theatre plays which, however, remained largely unheeded by literary critics.

Some of her exalted poems attained notoriety for their unintentional humor; she was mocked as "The Silesian Swan" by editors like Paul Lindau and many parodies were created which later were occasionally even attributed to Kempner herself.

This "literary heritage" prompted the author and critic Alfred Kempner (not a direct relative) to adopt the surname Kerr in 1887.