Kathrine Kressmann Taylor or Kressmann Taylor (1903 in Portland, Oregon – 14 July 1996) was an American writer, known mostly for her Address Unknown (1938), a short story written as a series of letters between a Jewish art dealer, living in San Francisco, and his business partner, who had returned to Germany in 1932.
Kathrine Kressmann moved to San Francisco after graduating from the University of Oregon in 1924 and worked as an advertising copywriter.
Ten years later, the couple moved to New York, where Story magazine published Address Unknown.
Foreign publications followed quickly, including a Dutch translation, later confiscated by Nazis, and a German one, published in Moscow.
The film director and production designer was William C. Menzies (Gone with the Wind), and Paul Lukas starred as Martin.
In 1995, when Taylor was 91, Story Press reissued Address Unknown to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps.
There has already been over 100 performances of the stage show, and it was filmed for TV and broadcast on the occasion of Holocaust Memorial Day, January 27.
Rediscovered after Address Unknown's reissue, Taylor spent a happy final year signing copies and giving interviews until her death at age 92.
Martin, a gentile, returns with his family to Germany, exhilarated by the advances in the old country since the humiliation of the Great War.
Max soon however has misgivings about his friend's new enthusiasms, having heard from eyewitnesses who had gotten out of Berlin that Jews were being beaten and their businesses boycotted.
Martin responds, telling Max that, while they may be good friends, everybody knows that Jews have been the universal scapegoats, and "a few must suffer for the millions to be saved."
He admits that he turned Griselle away when she came to him, her brother's dearest friend, for sanctuary – she had foolishly defied the Nazis and was being pursued by SA thugs.
The book's afterword, lovingly written by Taylor's son, reveals that the idea for the story came from a small news article: American students in Germany wrote home with the truth about the Nazi atrocities, a truth most Americans, including Charles Lindbergh, would not accept.
Fraternity brothers thought it would be funny to send them letters making fun of Hitler, and the visiting students wrote back, "Stop it.
Address Unknown was performed as a stage play in France, 2001, in Israel from 2002 (where it still runs) and at the Promenade Theater in New York in 2004.
It has also been performed in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden,Turkey, Argentina, South Africa and in various other US cities.
Address Unknown (Cimzett Ismeretlen) premiered on the stage of Spinoza Haz in Budapest, Hungary on September 6, 2008 and was performed in the Tron Theatre Glasgow as part of the Mayfesto season from 15 to 22 May 2010.
It starred Henry Goodman as Max and Patrick Malahide as Martin and was adapted and directed by Tim Dee.
The novel recounts the story of Karl Hoffmann, a young German Christian and son of a Lutheran pastor.
Germany is still in a depression following its defeat in World War I, and this situation is the soil from which Nazism's influence grows.
Karl, in his turn, continues his father's struggle and takes a stand against the Nazi takeover of the Church.
Kathrine Taylor met him through the mediation of the FBI, which had investigated the young German after his defection to the United States.
Taylor's published writings encompass 21 works in 107 publications in 18 languages and 2,220 library holdings.