Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche

Who was Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche?

Therese Elisabeth Alexandra Förster-Nietzsche, who went by her second name, was the sister of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and the creator of the Nietzsche Archive in 1894.

Förster-Nietzsche was two years younger than her brother. Both were children of a Lutheran pastor in the German village of Röcken bei Lützen. The two children were close during their childhood and early adult years. However, the siblings grew apart in 1885 when Elisabeth married Bernhard Förster, a former high school teacher who had become a fanatic anti-Semitic agitator—Friedrich Nietzsche abhorred anti-Semitism.