Julie Hausmann
Julie Katharina Hausmann was a Baltic German poet, known for the hymn "So nimm denn [meine Hände]", with a melody by Friedrich Silcher.
Life and work
Born in Riga the daughter of a teacher, Hausmann worked for a while as a governess. Due to her ill health, she lived with and cared for her father, who had gone blind. After his death in 1864, she lived with her sisters in Germany, Southern France and St. Petersburg, Russia.A legend holds that Hausmann wrote her most famous poem "So nimm denn meine Hände" after journeying to see her fiancé at a mission in Africa and, on arriving, finding that he had just died. Various explorations of her biography have yet to confirm or deny the rumor. She never married. Her poetry was published by others, including without mentioning her name, at her request.
She died during a summer vacation in Võsu, Estonia.