Annemarie Selinko

 Annemarie SELINKO (aka Selinko-Kristiansen) Born: Sep 1, 1914 in Vienna, Austria. Died: Jul 28, 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark + Erling KRISTIANSEN Married: 1938 occupation: Ambassador of Denmark in 1977 *geni

Annemarie Selinko finished school in 1932. At the University of Vienna she was registered as a student in history only in winter term 1932/33; in 1933 she was registered as a student in the Max Reinhardts actors school. Around this period, she started her career as a journalist and writer. It seems that her father Felix lived in rather modest conditions (I recommend the lecture of Annemarie's novels!). Maybe she gave up her studies, because she had to earn money. In 1938 she married Erling Kristiansen (a student at that time) and left Austria (together with her mother Grete Birnbaum-Selinko) for Denmark. Annemarie's grandmother Ida Wolf fled to Brno, Moravia, Czech; from there she was deported to Terezín (Theresienstadt), Bohemia, Czech concentration camp where she died in 1943 *3 images above (except face close-up) provided by William (Bill) Turnbull, son ofGisela "Gisi" Rusznyak (skating Left= Annemarie & her governess, Right= Gisi), student and close friend of Annemarie, with whom she corresponded periodically, until Annemarie's passing

*see Annemarie's book Desirée web page, Film, DVD (Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons) & books Ebay, Amazon.de OR on Wikipedia ..anAustrian-Danish author who lived in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Paris and London.. ..studied languages and history at Vienna university & became a political writer and Austrian correspondent for the French magazine „L`Intransigeant“.. In 1937 the novel "Ich war ein häßliches Mädchen" (I was an Ugly Girl) was published and she was put by the critics on the same level as Vicky Baum. The novel was translated into 12 languages & a film. On an assingment to Geneva in 1937 to interview politicians, she met a Danish student Erling Kristiansen, whom she later married in 1938.. ..During WW-II when Germans invaded Denmark, Annemarie Selinko-Kristiansen joined the opposition movement and was arrested in 1943 for a short time by the Gestapo. With her husband, she fled in an open fishing boat to Sweden and worked in Stockholm news agency. Near the end of the war, she was active as an interpreter with the charitable organization Red Cross.. ..Her last work, Roman Désirée (1951) about Désirée Clary, former fiancée of Napoleon and later a Swedish queen, world best-seller translated into 25 languages and in 1956, made into a movie with Marlon Brando & Jean Simmons. It is dedicated to her sister Liselotte, who was murdered by the Nazis.." Other works: Morgen wird alles besser (Tomorrow is Always Better) 1941, made into a film; "Morgen gaat het beter" Netherlands 1939 and "Heute heiratet mein Mann" My Husband Marries Today) 1943, made into a film West Germany 1956

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~prohel/names/kary/selinko.html

Annemarie Selinko (Estate) Denmark

Annemarie Selinko was born in Vienna in 1914. She studied history at the University of Vienna and became a political writer and correspondent. On an assingment to Geneva she met a Danish student, Erling Kristiansen, whom she later married in 1938. When the Second World War broke out, Selinko was living in Denmark, and she and her husband escaped the Gestapo by sailing to Sweden in a fishing boat. While in Sweden she began collecting material for her bestseller Désirée which was published in 1953.

The book was since published into 25 languages and sold twenty million copies world wide. It was also made into a successful film with Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons.

Selinko died in 1986.

Désirée All the passions and intrigues of Bonapart's court are seen through the eyes of the merchant's daughter from Marseilles, a young woman who became Napoleon's financée and, ultimately, the Queen of Sweeden.