History and Legacy

We, as custodians of the past, turn history into legacy. Sayyida Salme / Emily Ruete left us her writings, but what do we make of them? She gave us history –- in fact, she gave us her story[1] –- and we are privileged to take it up, to understand her relevance for today.

Now, when Arab voices, especially women’s voices, are hard to find in mainstream channels, we still have hers –- a special Arab voice that refracted an East-West perspective. In this politically fraught time, I have come to recognize that it can be easier to connect to voices of the past than to hear voices of the present, when everyone is so polarized and pigeon-holed.

I was reminded of this on a recent trip to Germany, my first time to Hamburg in a long time. Although I had pilgrimed to my great-great-grandparent’s northern hometown multiple times, that was before I published three books of Sayyida Salme's translated writings, before new findings by Fridjof Gutendorf in the Hamburg archives, before Hamburg honored and then cancelled her name despite a more balanced Gutachten from Tania Mancheno,[2] and before I became so attuned to questions of her history and legacy.

As always, this post is too short for long discourse, so here are a few travel notes, scattered like breadcrumbs on a trail toward understanding:

** First, surprise: After removing “Emily-Ruete-Platz” from its once-heralded signpost, Hamburg has now followed through on its plan to put up a historical marker.[3] Right across from her first Hamburg address, Schöne Aussicht 29,[4] there is now a tableau about her life and times. Few joggers will stop to read the text, but for those who do, it is densely packed with facts on front and back. At first glance, nicely done –- I am grateful that the Hansestadt kept its promise, and I learned some things –- but even here, there is no shortage of errors. Ten by my count, in such a short space. I am now debating whether to write the creators, Geschichtswerkstatt Barmbek, on these points.  

They are not alone; errors about Sayyida Salme crop up everywhere. Why, oh why, is it so hard to keep the record straight, even by people tasked with historical accuracy? In the churn of recognition and remembrance, it is far easier to repeat other content (or, so help us, rely on regurgitated AI) than refer back to the original. In this way, errors become truths and turn fruitful and multiply. Some of what we write is subjective, of course, and views change over time, and I may well be spouting errors myself. But there is no denying: We are all vulnerable to characterization and mischaracterization, even when we leave a record for posterity. It is a constant struggle and obligation for us to find the history in the legacy -– to keep legacy from eroding history.

** Second, sobering: Walking to Schöne Aussicht 29 from the west, I passed a beautiful, aqua-blue, stately mosque on the left, just four houses from the Ruete home. Come to find out, it is the oldest mosque in Hamburg, whose Iranian-sponsored doors opened sixty years ago - as the sign says, the Islamisches Zentrum Hamburg, Imam Ali Moschee. In such a big city, there is no small irony in placing this center of Islam only a stone’s throw from a historical figure whose main crime was converting from Islam to Christianity. In her darkest days during those first years,[5] what would it have meant to have Muslims practically on her doorstep, had they congregated there a century sooner? Would she have found community or critics? Sadly, no doubt the latter, as there was no tolerance for infidels at the time.

But the added irony is that this Islamic Center was forced to close exactly one year ago (July 24, 2024), when Germany deemed its influence dangerous and its presence unconstitutional. Without picking sides, one can still ask: Will there ever come a day when religious freedom prevails over religious fear?  Perhaps it will be the same day that we regain a thriving and cosmopolitan Beirut within a peaceful and prosperous Levant, a place where Sayyida Salme spent much of her later life.[6]

** Third, serenity: The Ruete family's niched-in-nature gravesite is so deep within the vast Ohlsdorf Cemetery that you will wish you had a GPS pin to find your way.[7] And yet somehow, Fridjof bee-lined us there as our guide. Graced by the same purplish rhododendrons we saw across the whole landscape, this was the perfect time to visit Sayyida Salme’s grave. It is a nice thought that she knew in her lifetime where she would be laid to rest, next to her beloved Heinrich. The Ruete family had started the site in 1907 for Heinrich's stepmother and then added Heinrich in 1909 when he was moved from his original 1870 site[8] -- and in between they left a space for her. Although we may not feel much Ruete presence in Sayyida Salme’s life, at least not from what she writes, this gesture shows that she had a respected place in the family. We can also hold onto her widowed status to the very end. There was never anyone other than Heinrich, and this is the place she belonged.

In being laid to rest beside her dear husband of only three years, at the end of almost 80 years, she returned to the German city that first took her in, back to her husband, and also her first child, her little Heinrich, somewhere in a disappeared grave behind a charitable church.[9] Two decades later, the headstone of her next child, Antonie, was added in a row just below, one of the many tragic victims of war that Sayyida Salme so abhorred.[10] I took a moment to wipe off all the gravestones, thinking about history and legacy, and stayed until they dried.

**

History keeps generating, and legacy keeps evolving. I am glad there are touchpoints to anchor us in our past, and I am grateful for all the interested readers who are vigilant of the past to inform our present.

Andrea Emily Stumpf

July 24, 2025

Photo credit: Andrea E. Stumpf, May 26, 2025.

[1] Cue to my tag line: Let history surprise you, let her story inspire you – let her authentic voice speak to you.

[2] It was a pleasure to meet both of them on this trip. I did my share to persuade Fridjof to publish his findings, and Tania did hers to persuade me to virtually convene friends of Sayyida Salme. What do you think?

[3] The original signpost and new marker come from the Bezirksamt Hamburg-Nord.

[4] Formerly An der Schönen Aussicht, it truly is a schöne Aussicht, a lovely view, from the shoreline onto the Außenalster. Heinrich and Emily Ruete rented the place from Dr. Adolf Wilhelm Theobald shortly after arriving in 1867 until Emily moved to cheaper lodgings in 1871. It was in researching the records of this property that Fridjof Gutendorf first encountered Sayyida Salme/Emily Ruete.

[5] Sayyida Salme’s spiritual journey in those early, tumultuous years permeates her Letters to the Homeland. I also provide some historical perspective in my essay “On Faith” in The Centennial Collection (pp. 54-75).

[6] See my blog post Turning to Turn-of-the-19th-Century Syria from December 28, 2024.

[7] https://maps.apple.com/place?coordinate=53.623068,10.052176&name=Ruete%20Grab%20Ohlsdorf&map=explore Said to be the fourth largest cemetery in the world, Ohlsdorf Cemetery is close to 1000 acres in size.

[8] Her husband Heinrich had to be moved when the growing city cleared out burial grounds to make room for other things, also part of Fridjof Gutendorf’s research.

[9] The infant Heinrich tragically died at six months between Lyon and Paris, en route to Hamburg. According to Fridjof Gutendorf, records of the likely churchyard where this poor body ended up have been lost to time.

[10] Speaking of the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, she says: “What offerings of men and money such a war consumes mocks any description. To undertake such a war of attrition—nota bene: Christians against Christians—Europeans start to train their male youth already at a very early age for this purpose.” (Letters to the Homeland, p. 41) I do not know if Antonie’s body was placed beneath her headstone, or if it was lost in the rubble of the British bombing of Bad Oldesloe on April 24, 1945.