Motion-picture producers began wiring east. It was ordered by English publishers and translation into foreign languages was begun. At about this point it seemed Address Unknown ought to have a good substantial binding on it and its own independent, and perhaps permanent, place on the country’s bookshelf. This is it. On a shelf of significance there seems no doubt it will hold a challenging place.
—WHIT BURNETT , editor of Story Magazine
Note to the electronic edition: Address Unknown first appeared in 1938 in the literary magazine Story. The foreword below appeared in its first separate book publication the following year. Curiously, although the story remains popular in French, German, and other languages, the original has largely been forgotten in the United States, as has the author, Kathrine Kressmann Taylor (1903-1997), who suppressed her first name when Address Unknown was first published in deference to the common prejudice against woman writers who chose “masculine” themes and genres. Although one can quibble with historical details, the story is surprisingly accurate for its time in its portrayal of the fate of Jews in the Third Reich.
Address Unknown
by
Kressmann Taylor
SCHULSE-EISENSTEIN GALLERIES
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, U.S.A.
NOVEMBER 12, 1932
Herrn Martin Schulse Schloss Rantzenburg Munich, Germany
MY DEAR MARTIN :
Back in Germany! How I envy you! Although I have not seen it since my school days, the spell of Unter den Linden is still strong upon me — the breadth of intellectual freedom, the discussions, the music, the lighthearted comradeship.