Andrea Manga Bell [1902-1985]: A woman from Hamburg between Berlin`s bohemian art scene and exile in Paris – Cuba | Germany | France
Life stories
Holger Tilicki, 2024
Andrea Jimenez Berroa was born in Hamburg in 1902. Her parents were Margaretha Filter from Hamburg and the Afro-Cuban classical pianist José Manuel "Lico" Jiménez Berroa. At the age of 17 she married Alexandre Ndumbe Manga Bell, the son of the Duala king Rudolf Duala Manga Bell, who had been hanged a few years earlier by the German colonial power in Cameroon.
Andrea Manga Bell later worked as an illustrator and editor at the art magazine Gebrauchsgraphik in Berlin, where she met the Austrian writer Joseph Roth. Together with him she went into exile in Nice and Paris in 1933. She lived and worked in France until her death in 1985.
Her story is not well known in Germany. When the 1968 movement in the Federal Republic of Germany focussed on exile literature during National Socialism, interest in her was limited to her relationship with Joseph Roth. She was only mentioned as the wife of a Cameroonian politician and as the partner of a well-known author. Very little is known about her achievements as a graphic designer and editor, her influence on Joseph Roth's work and her activities in Paris after 1945. Unfortunately, there are only a few statements from herself that are publicly accessible.
Contact: hamburg-postkolonial@riseup.net
Link: http://www.hamburg-postkolonia...
Special Thanks: Many thanks to the historian Gisela Ewe for making available transcripts of the correspondence between Andrea Manga Bell and Karl Retzlaw as well as further source references and to the editor Anke Schwarzer for her further ideas and access to the Südfunk radio interview.
References:
Deutsches Exilarchiv, Frankfurt a. M.: Nachlass K. Retzlaw – EB 80/169 I. A. 288 MANGA BELL, Andrea an RETZLAW, KARL. Briefe zwischen 1967-1973. Transkription von Gisela Ewe.
Eichler, John: Die Entmenschlichung der Juliette Martens in Klaus Manns Roman "Mephisto". Eine Verteidigungsschrift für Andrea Manga Bell, in Huffington Post, 2. Dezember 2017.
Morgenstern, Soma: Joseph Roths Flucht und Ende, Erinnerungen, herausgegeben und mit einem Nachwort von Ingolf Schulte, 2008.
Retzlaw, Karl: Spartakus - Aufstieg und Niedergang. Erinnerungen eines Parteiarbeiters, 1972.
Rundfunkinterview für den damaligen SF (Südfunk) mit Andrea Manga Bell, geführt 1974 in Paris von Paul Assall und Gerd Remy, gesendet am 5. Januar 1975 in der Reihe Zeitgenossen.
Rodriguez, Olavo Alén / Weber, Gudrun: Zwischen Kuba und Deutschland. Leben und Wirken der kubanischen Musikerfamilie Jiménez, 2021.
Website von Nachkommen des Komponisten José Manuel Lico Jimenéz: https://licojimenez.com/
___
This article was written as part of the project ‘Digital mapping of Hamburg's colonial history’. The project is a co-operation between the Hamburg Historical Museums Foundation, the working group HAMBURG POSTKOLONIAL and the Berlin joint project ‘Decolonial Culture of Remembrance in the City’. It is funded by the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media and the German Federal Cultural Foundation.
Coordination and editing: Anke Schwarzer, 2024
Stationen
The Jiménez family in Cuba
The musicians José Manuel “Lico” and Nicasio Jiménez
The German-Cuban family Jiménez-Filter in Hamburg
Wedding in Hamburg
Editor and clichéd novel character
In Exile with Joseph Roth
Surviving in occupied France
Employee of the United Restitution Organization (URO)
The novel "Die Heilige des Trinkers"