Elody Oblath

Elody Oblath was born in Trieste in 1889 into a well-do-to family of Jewish origin. In 1908 she meets Scipio Slataper and starts an intellectual correspondence which is part of her letters “Alle tre amiche”.

Oblath has very strong patriotic feelings and moves to Florence in 1915, following her friends who fled Trieste to join the Italian army. In Florence she works actively for the Italian cause.

In 1919 she marries the famous Trieste writer Gianni Stuparich and starts a more quiet family life. In 1928 she begins to put together  letters and diaries for her collection “Note autobiografiche e confessioni” in which she talks about her spiritual and human life and intellectual growth.

1938 marks the beginning of a series of problems related to racial laws and the anti-Semitic campaign. In 1944 she is imprisoned together with her husband and her mother-in-law in the Risiera. They are liberated thanks to the intervention of Archbishop Santin and Prefect Coceani. She recalls this sad chapter in her poem “San Sabba”.

The last years of her life are dedicated to her friends; she collaborates with RAI, translating German writers. Oblath dies in Trieste in 1971.