Most of his time is spent in cafes, where he begins to recognize people who are also waiting, while the city has ever more limited amounts of food and alcohol on sale because of the increased population.

Additionally, Seghers was an introverted, illness-prone child who sought the sea and rivers for respite– symbols frequently appearing in her literary work (Romero, 2021).

During her time at the University of Heidelberg from 1920-1924, Seghers showed interest in East Asian culture (particularly language and art), European literature, the social sciences, and Marxism.

Additionally, she joined the League of Proletarian-Revolutionary Writers, a group closely associated with the Communist Party of Germany, under this pseudonym (Anna Seghers Society, 2022).

She joined a literary magazine, Neue Deutsche Blätter, and reestablished the Association for the Protection of German Writers (Anna Seghers Society, 2021).

Most notably, in 1942, Seghers published one of her most famous novels, Das siebte Kreuz, translated into The Seventh Cross, which would eventually be adapted into a film (Akademie der Kunste, 2021).

Throughout this period, she continued to publish literary works like Crisanta, The Dead Remain Young, The Argonaut Ship, Peace Stories, and Three Women from Haiti– her last publication, since she began suffering health complications and made routine hospital visits (Anna Seghers Society, 2021; Romero, 2021).

Her life around this period, between 1933 and 1947, was marked by intense political and social upheaval, particularly in Europe, as fascism spread across the continent and ultimately culminated in World War II.

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933 set off a series of aggressive geographical expansions and oppressive policies targeting Jewish communities, political dissidents, and other marginalized groups.

These exiled communities constantly relocated, often further West to France, the United States, or Latin America, as Nazi influence and military operations spread throughout the region.

WWII formally ended in 1945, but the period was followed by years of recovery, with many exiles remaining in foreign countries due to the lingering political consequences in postwar Europe.

After Hiter came to power in 1933, Seghers – a vocal Jewish and anti-fascist writer – fled to France via Switzerland for safety after being temporarily arrested and labeled as an “undesirable author.” Her husband and children joined her in Paris a few months after her arrival.

However, Seghers continued to define herself as an active anti-fascist political voice, helping organize and speaking at the first International Writers Congress in Defense of Culture in late June 1935.

In 1941, Seghers, her husband, and children departed Marseille on the refugee freighter Paul Lemerle for the United States of America, with stops in Martinique and the Dominican Republic.

Furthermore, this traumatic event may give credence to some readers arguing that her writing was noticeably nostalgic and infused with a longing for home around this period, especially Transit.

Reviews highlight its atmospheric quality and thought-provoking themes: Christian Petzold, born in 1960 in Hilden, Germany, is one of the leading directors of the Berlin School, a movement of young German filmmakers.

The film's atmospheric style relies on visual cues rather than explicit textual references from the novel, shifting the narrative focus from inner monologue to visible actions and behavior.

While some reviewers acknowledged the inherent tragedy of Seghers' subject matter, others found her depiction of the protagonist less sympathetic than expected for a war refugee.

For example, Helen Bower, writing for the Detroit Free Press on May 14, 1944, expressed detachment, noting that although "the refugees pouring a floodtide into Marseille is tragic and moving of itself," the author's style left her "personally, cold."

He described Seghers' work as "the story of the uprooted millions in frantic migration" and found the narrative effective in capturing the chaotic displacement of refugees during the war.

Miller, however, offered a more complex view in his Town & Country review, interpreting Transit as a reflection of the "disregard for the dignity of life" seen in both war and peace.

While admiring its themes, Miller ultimately critiqued the novel as "too expertly done," and compared the protagonist to the detached figure in Arthur Koestler’s works.

Harry Hansen, in Red Book (July 1944), found Transit "a moving one" but felt it did not reach the same literary heights as The Seventh Cross.