Theodora Korte
Theodora Johanna Antonia Maria Korte was a German poet, journalist and author, often writing under the pseudonym Theo von Nienhaus.
Early life and education
Theodora Korte was born as a member of the Hanoverian Korte family. Her parents were Johann-Heinrich Korte and Maria Rodewyk, daughter of a tobacco merchant. Johann-Heinrich Korte was governor 'Amtshauptmann' of Emsland. He held this title after Hanover was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. This way, Johann-Heinrich Korte profited from the Prussian invasion, while many of his relatives were forced to flee the country and move abroad.Korte grew up in the Amtshaus Nienhaus with her two older brothers; Valentin, and Heinrich ; and three older sisters; Sophia, Rosalia, and Elisabeth. From her father's first marriage she had two half-brothers; Gustav and Johann. Hanover had become a province of the German Empire only a year before Theodora's birth, making her the only member of her immediate family without the Hanoverian nationality, but with the new German one.
Aged 14, Korte moved to Bregenz, Austria, and attended the Catholic Sacré Coeur Riedenburg convent school. Afterwards, she attended a finishing school in Emden, and earned her teaching certificate.
Career
Shortly after the start of the First World War, Korte moved to Münster, where she began to write for Catholic newspapers and magazines. Her works were known for their religious themes and the clear love their author had for Emsland, her home region. This is most apparent in her most famous works: Jan Bernd Hoeftmann, the Story of an Emsland Boy.Personal life
After her time in Emden, Korte travelled to Paris, but quickly returned when her parents became ill. As their only unwed daughter, it was her responsibility to take care of her ailing parents, which she did until her father's death in 1907, and her mother's in 1914.Korte's career was successful, but cut short. On 31 August 1926 she died, aged 53, at the Clemens Hospital in Münster, where she was also buried. There is still a plaque on the façade of the Nienhaus commemorating her birth.