Johanna, the daughter of Adolf Kielich by his marriage to Caroline Lukoschewitz, was orphaned at the age of seven. With the support of Father Urbschat, a preacher of the Mucher movement, she received a formal training as a nursery nurse. She worked from 1877 as a deaconess and from 1887 as a Red Cross Sister in Hamburg, and later in Vienna. In 1897 she married Otto Gustav Wolff in Hamburg.
With Agnes Miegel she was an important figure of East Prussian women's literature. She was influenced by the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Detlev von Liliencron and Richard Dehmel. Johanna Wolff's first published work was Namenlos - Frauenlieder in 1896 during her time in Vienna. Her most successful work was the autobiographical novel Hanneken: Ein Buch der Armut und Arbeit (1912). Until 1939 she published numerous poetry books, plays and novels.
In 1930 Johanna Wolff received the honorary citizenship of Tilsit and in 1943 the Meerwischer Elementary School in Tilsit was named after her and still honors Johanna Wolff today.
Works
1896 Namenlos - Frauenlieder (Verlag der Wiener Mode, Vienna)
1899 Ahasver (102 pages, Verlag des Dramaturgischen Instituts Abteilung III (E. Ebering), Co-Author: O. Gustav Wolff
