Baroness Dombrowski [1881-1968], Austrian writer and illustrator, has been largely forgotten. During her career she used multiple names: Kathe Schonberger, Käthe Olshausen-Schönberger, Katharina von Dombrowski, Baroness von Dombrowski, and the initials KOS.
Käthe Schonberger was born in 1881 in Modling, Austria, into a German-Jewish family. Without formal training she was already a well-known illustrator and artist of bookplates and animal caricatures by the age of 20.
She adopted the double surname Olshausen-Schönberger after her marriage in Berlin, in August 1902 to Franz Ferdinand Olshausen, a German diplomat. During her marriage to Olshausen, she lived in Berlin, Munich, and at times also in USA, Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Africa. The couple split sometime around 1920, and Käthe spent most of her time in New York, working in radio and translating.
Her involvement in politics included participating in a 1922 humanitarian campaign for famine relief in post-war Russia.
Käthe’s second husband was the painter Karl Ritter von Dombrowski. Afterwards, she generally used the name Katharina von Dombrowski for her works. Her second marriage did not last long.
In 1935 Käthe’s novel “Land of Women: Tale of a Lost Nation” was published. This being a fictionalized tale of dictatorship in South America. Written as a warning of the rise of Fascism, it was refused publication in Germany.
Her focus from 1930 shifted more toward prose, with essays, novels, and stories, which were published mainly in German. During this time she continued to live in the USA until returning to Graz in Austria in 1951 where she died at the beginning of 1968.
Käthe Olshausen-Schönberger:
Katharina von Dombrowski [after 2nd marriage]:
Karl Von Drombrowski [1872-1951]:
17 May 1935, Morecambe Guardian:
9 May 1935, Aberdeen Press and Journal:
Work by Käthe Olshausen-Schönberger/Baroness Dombrowski:
