Silvia Rodgers
German-British writer (1928–2006)
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Silvia Rodgers, Baroness Rodgers of Quarry Bank, FRSL (née Szulman; 3 March 1928 – 8 October 2006), was a German-British writer and political activist. She was married to the politician Bill Rodgers.
3 March 1928
The Lady Rodgers of Quarry Bank | |
|---|---|
| Born | Silvia Szulman 3 March 1928 |
| Died | 8 October 2006 (aged 78) |
| Occupations | Political activist and hostess; writer; anthropologist; dentist; sculptor |
| Notable work | Red Saint, Pink Daughter |
Early life
Rodgers was born in Wedding (Berlin) to working-class Jewish parents.[1] Her parents were members of the Communist Party of Germany.[2][3] Her mother insisted that Silvia not participate in the Nazi salute at school.[3] In an afterword to her memoir, Rodgers wrote "When I was ten and still in Berlin, I had that feeling that there was nothing I could not do".[4]
The family came to Britain in 1939.[5]
Marriage and political involvement
Silvia Szulman and Bill Rodgers married in 1955.[5] The couple had three daughters: Rachel, Lucy and Juliet.[1]
Rodgers influenced her husband's political career, particularly his decision to leave the Labour Party and set up the Social Democratic Party.[1] Bill Rodgers said that most of the child-rearing fell to Silvia and that he was neglectful; she also worked as a dentist when he was first in parliament as they were not well-off.[6] She was noted as a political hostess.[1][5] Rodgers described herself as feeling like an outsider, dislocated and marginal.[1][4]
Artistic career
Rodgers was a sculptor.[5]
Research and writing
Rodgers completed a PhD in anthropology at Oxford, on the subject of the rituals of ship-launching: The symbolism of ship launching in the Royal Navy (1983).[1]
She was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.[1]
Her writings include:
- "Women's space in a men's house: the British House of Commons" (1981), in Women and Space: Ground Rules and Social Maps, ed. Ardener, S
- A memoir, Red Saint, Pink Daughter: a communist childhood in Berlin and London (1996), joint winner of the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize for Non-Fiction (1997)[7][8][9]
- The Politician's Wife: life with Bill Rodgers (2007)