Rosemarie Schuder came from a middle-class family in Jena. She attended a girls' school and took the Abitur in 1947. Subsequently she worked as a freelance journalist for the East German newspaper Tägliche Rundschau and Neue Zeit. She interned for hands on experience at the Jena Glassworks in 1952. From 1957 to 1959, she underwent a study abroad in Italy. Since 1958, she has been married to writer Rudolf Hirsch and lives as a freelance writer in Berlin.
Rosemarie Schuder is the writer of numerous historical novels in which she deals with primarily themes from German history like the Münster Rebellion of 1534 or the fate of important people like Paracelsus, Johannes Kepler and Michelangelo.
Rosemarie Schuder has belonged to the P.E.N.-Zentrum of East Germany since 1978 being a member of the PEN-Zentrums Deutschland today as well as the Deutsche Schillergesellschaft. Since 1951 she has belonged to the Ost-CDU ending with her withdrawal from the party in March 1990. She has received the 1958 Heinrich Mann Prize, the National Prize of East Germany in each 1969, 1978 and 1988, the 1976 Lion Feuchtwanger Prize as well as the 1988 Goethe Prize of the East German Capital.
Works
Glas (Glass), Leipzig 1952
Die Strumpfwirker (The Dull Worker), Berlin 1953
Ich hab's gewagt (I Have Dared It), Berlin 1954
Der Ketzer von Naumburg (The Heretic of Naumburg), Berlin 1955
Meine Sichel ist scharf (My Sickle is Sharp), Berlin 1955
Paracelsus, Berlin 1955
Der Sohn der Hexe (The Witch's Son), Berlin 1957
In der Mühle des Teufels (In the Devil's Grinder), Berlin 1959
Der Tag von Rocca di Campo (The Day of Rocca di Campo), Berlin 1959
Die Störche von Langenbach (The Storks of Langenbach), Berlin 1961
Der Gefesselte (The Bound), Berlin 1962
Die zerschlagene Madonna (The Smashed Madonna), Berlin 1964
Tartuffe 63 oder Die Ehe der Michaela Schlieker (Tartuffe 63 of the Marriage of Michaela Schlieker), Berlin 1965
Die Erleuchteten oder Das Bild des armen Lazarus zu Münster in Westfalen, von wenig Furchtsamen auch der Terror der Liebe genannt (The Illustration or Image of the poor Lazarus of Münster in Westphalia, of important Timidness also called the Terror of Love), Berlin 1968
Paracelsus und der Garten der Lüste (Paracelsus and the Garden of Lusts), Berlin 1972
Agrippa und das Schiff der Zufriedenen (Agrippa and the Ship of the Content), Berlin 1977
Serveto vor Pilatus (Serveto in front of Pilatus), Berlin 1982
Der gelbe Fleck (The Yellow Spot), Berlin 1987 (together with Rudolf Hirsch)
Die Bilder der Königin (The Picture of the Queen), Berlin 1990
Welt und Traum des Hieronymus Bosch (World and Dreams of Hieronymus Bosch), Berlin 1991
Botticelli, Berlin 1996
Nummer 58866 – Judenkönig (Number 58866 – Jewish King), Berlin 1996 (together with Rudolf Hirsch)
Hochverrat oder Seltsame Wege zu Ferdinand Freiligrath (High Treason or Strange Ways of Ferdinand Freiligrath), Zürich 2001
Der "Fremdling aus dem Osten" / Eduard Lasker – Jude, Liberaler, Gegenspieler Bismarcks (The "Stranger from the East" / Eduard Lasker – Jew, Liberal, Bismarck's Opponent), Berlin: Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg 2008
Publishing work
Otto Nuschke, Berlin 1953
Hieronymus Bosch: Hieronymus Bosch, Berlin 1975
Literature
Edda Eska: Merkmale und Strukturen des historischen Romans (Characteristics and Structure of Historical Novels), Berlin 1981
Werner Schuder (Editor): Hirsch geb. Schuder, Rosemarie (Ps. Rosemarie Schuder). In: Kürschners Deutscher Literatur-Kalender 1984 (Hirsch née Schuder, Rosemarie (Pseudonym: Rosemarie Schuder). In Kürschner's German Literary Calendar 1984). 59. Jahrgang. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 1984
