The Mother of Hanns Heinz Ewers

The Mother of Hanns Heinz Ewers

Maria Ewers Aus’m Weerth was born Johanna Bertha Hubertina Feldman-Simons on May 16, 1839 in Bonn. Her father, Franz Heinrich Wilhelm Friedrich Feldman, was a wealthy industrialist in the silk and velvet industry. Her mother was Friederica Simons. The Simons were also wealthy industrialists and she went by the name Feldman-Simons because of the importance of both family names.

In keeping with this tradition an arraigned marriage was formed between Maria Feldman-Simons and Jakob Friedrich Aus’m Weerth, another influential and important industrial family. They were both married at the age of twenty-two and lived in Bonn. Jakob Friedrich was made CEO of the local family business, Weerth & Peill.

They lived in a large mansion with many servants and held lavish parties. It was not long before they went through a large portion of the family fortune and brought the business to bankruptcy. At that time he was forced out of the family business and the couple moved into a small house without any servants. A short time later Jakob Friedrich Aus’m Weerth left his family never to return.

In 1856 he went to the United States and fought in the Civil War as a Union officer and received a military pension later in life. At the time Maria refused a formal divorce but later got one. She corresponded with him until his death.

Her father almost forcibly took her and her children back to live with him. It was a very rocky situation and she alternated between living with the extended family and living on her own in small rented houses or apartments. Living with her mother was intolerable and finally her father helped her get a small home in Cleve.

She often went to Berlin and met many important and influential people. It’s not known when or how she met the painter Heinz Ewers who would later become her husband. At that time she had three daughters. She was a beautiful woman with short-sighted green eyes and a shy disposition like her son.

When her father refused to help her she turned to her uncle Emil Aus’m Weerth who was an avid scholar and had many old books. She read many of his books and was able to recite long ballads by heart to her uncle. Her love of books was passed onto her son.

She was interested in the occult and once confided to a schoolmate, “Oh, if I could just once be lucky enough to meet the Devil, to really see him!” Friend of the family, Herbert Eulenburg said, “She boasted that she was in league with the Devil and that …”

She loved telling stories and fables and later began making up ones of her own. She also collaborated with her son in producing German translations of various authors.

She remained healthy, spry and spirited until her death at the old age of 87 on July 18, 1926 in Düsseldorf.