Valeska von Gallwitz was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 writer.

Life

Born Agnes Valeska Eugenie von Tempsky from a distinguished noble family, her father Karl Gustav von Tempsky and her brothers were (as most of their ancestors) officers of the Prussian army

Prussian Army

The Royal Prussian Army was the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.The Prussian Army had its roots in the meager mercenary forces of Brandenburg during the Thirty Years' War...

. The family originated in Pomerelia in western Prussia and some moved to Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

 some time after 1415, which in 1741 the province itself was ceded to Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

 by the Habsburg Empire during the War of Austrian Succession. Her cousin was the distinguished New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 Major Gustavus von Tempsky

Gustavus von Tempsky

Major Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky was a Polish-Prussian adventurer, artist, newspaper correspondent and soldier in New Zealand, Australia, California, Mexico and the Mosquito Coast of Central America...

.

Valeska von Tempsky grew up in Glogau and married August von Gallwitz in 1855 in Jawor

Jawor

Jawor is a town in south-western Poland with 24,347 inhabitants . It is situated in Lower Silesian Voivodeship . It is the seat of Jawor County, and lies approximately west of the regional capital Wrocław.In the town can be found a Protestant Church of Peace...

 (German Jauer). Von Gallwitz († 1914 in Breslau) was squire (or Gutsherr) in the village of Dzierżno near Gliwice

Gliwice

Gliwice is a city in Upper Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Gliwice is the west district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union – a metropolis with a population of 2 million...

. The pair lived in Breslau, Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

.

In 1868 she began to write. Her first novel Editha and other stories was published in 1876 by Münchmeyer-Verlag (publishing house) in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 under the pseudonym Eugen Valeski. Another pen name she used was C. Michael.

The Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv (Goethe and Schiller archives) in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

has the correspondence of Valeska von Gallwitz with the writer and editor Joseph Kürschner from the years 1877 to 1885.

Works

• Editha , Roman, in: Deutsches Familienblatt I, Dresden 1876, Verlag H. G. Münchmeyer
• Der Talisman der Großmutter, Erzählung, in: Feierstunden am häuslichen Herde“, Dresden 1876, Verlag H. G. Münchmeyer
• Eine Stiefmutter, Erzählung, in: Deutsches Familienblatt II, Dresden 1877, Verlag H. G. Münchmeyer
• Dem Tode abgerungen, Novelle, in: Deutsches Familienblatt II, Dresden 1877, Verlag H. G. Münchmeyer
• Jelka, Novelle, Stuttgart 1878, Verlag Richter und Kappler
• Das Schloß am Roche Malon, Roman, Freiburg 1879, Verlag Kiepert
• Jelka , Roman. 2. Aufl., Falkenberg O/S. 1882 , Verlag Bartelt
• Dem Tode abgerungen , Roman, (2 Bände) Freiburg 1880, Verlag Kiepert
• Zwei Frauenherzen, Charakterbild, Freiburg 1880, Verlag Kiepert
• Aus Palast und Hütte, Novellen, Leipzig 1881, Verlag Schulze & Co
• Magdalena, Roman, Breslau 1883, Verlag Schottländer

Literature

• Gothaisches Genealogisches Taschenbuch der Adeligen Häuser Teil B, Gotha 1933, Verlag Justus Perthes
• Sophie Pataky: Lexikon deutscher Frauen der Feder, Eine Zusammenstellung der seit dem Jahre 1840 erschienen Werke weiblicher Autoren, Berlin 1898, Verlagsbuchhandlung Carl Pataky
• Volker Griese: Karl May. Personen in seinem Leben.
• Roland Schmid: Eine Gräfin von Gallwitz, in: Mitteilungen der Karl-May-Gesellschaft. Nr. 70 (1986), Seite 24