VARNHAGEN VON ENSE, RAHEL

ne Levin born May 19, 1771, Berlin, Prussia [now in Germany] died March 7, 1833, Berlin German literary hostess from early in the 19th century whose soirees were attended by many of the Romantics, notably Heinrich Heine. Rahel was from a wealthy Jewish family of Berlin. Her brother Ludwig Robert was a minor playwright. Literary salons presided over by such women as Henriette Herz and Rahel Levin became the centres of social activity for writers and their followers in Berlin. A sudden loss of fortune in 1806 interrupted Rahel's salon activity, but she was able to resume it after she met Karl August Varnhagen von Ense, a minor writer and literary personality, in 1808. They were married in 1814. In 1819 he was dismissed from the diplomatic service because of his liberal politics, and the family returned to Berlin, where Rahel's salon regained its prominence. Many of Rahel Varnhagen's letters were published in 1967. Her husband brought out a collection of her writings, Rahel: Ein Buch des Andenkens fr ihre Freunde, 3 vol. (1834, reprinted 1971; Rahel: A Book of Memories for Her Friends).