Who is Alma?

Alma Ida Wilibalda Maximiliana Karlin,

12 October 1889 – 14 January 1950

 

A polyglot, foreign language teacher, writer, amateur ethnologist, and globetrotter who journeyed across the globe over eight years, from 1919 to 1927.

 

Trieste – Genoa – Peru – Panama Canal – San Francisco – Hawaii – Japan – Korea – China – Formosa/Taiwan – Hong Kong/China – Philippines – Australia – New Zealand – Fiji – New Caledonia – New Hebrides – Solomon Islands – New Guinea – Indonesia/Java, Sumatra – Singapore – Thailand – Burma – India – Eritrea/Somalia – Suez Canal – Venice – Celje

 

A Different Birth

Alma, born in Celje on St. Maximilian’s Day in 1889, was the only daughter of elderly parents. Her mother, born in 1844, was a popular teacher at a German girls’ school. Her father, born in 1829, was already a retired major of the Austro-Hungarian army for 10 years by the time she was born. In her book on her childhood and youth (Sama (Alone), 2010), Alma describes her mother’s attitude towards her disabilities, for which she often took her to different doctors.  Her father died when she was young, and Alma spent her childhood in the company of her nanny and companion Mimi, with whom she also spent holidays in Laško, where she was sent to recover from whooping cough. Due to her “crippled” condition, she went to the Orthopaedic Institute in Ljubljana at the age of 15.

Linguistic youth

She took private French and English lessons until the age of 18. She passed the national exam for both languages and was thus s qualified to teach them. In 1908, she moved to London. While working in a translation office, she studied foreign languages and in 1914 passed examinations in eight languages at the Society of Arts in London. In between, she became fascinated by Eastern philosophy and also learned the basics of Sanskrit. During her stay in London, she visits Celje accompanied by the son of a Chinese mandarin, with whom she also considered marriage.

Scandinavian years on her way home

Soon after the outbreak of World War I, as a citizen of Austria-Hungary, she was treated as a citizen of an enemy country in London and travelled to Scandinavia. In Norway and Sweden, she earned a living by teaching languages, while she spent her free time in libraries. She also wrote her first work of literature – a play, published in 1918. In the spring of that year, she returned to Celje and established a school for foreign languages.

An 8-year-long journey

In Celje, she prepared for her journey to Japan. She bought Erika, her famous typewriter, that traversed the world with her, took painting classes and learns about geography, history, natural sciences, botany and zoology. She also prepared her own 10-language dictionary for the journey. She boarded a train in Celje on 24 November 1919. At the time, she had no idea that she would not return until the end of 1927. She journeyed by boats and trains in the lowest fare classes. Initially, her journey took her to South America (Peru). In the autumn of 1920, she worked as a translator in offices related to the construction of the Panama Canal. In 1921 she travelled across Central America and Mexico, and was in San Francisco in the USA in August, before heading to Hawaii. In 1922, she arrived in the dreamed-of Japan, where she obtained a job at the German embassy. A year later, she travelled to Korea, then on to Manchuria and later to China. In Taiwan (Formosa at the time) she even visited headhunters. After Hong Kong, she travelled to Australia, and then to New Zealand and the islands of the Pacific. She lived with the locals in New Guinea. She contracted malaria and tropical dysentery, and even encountered cannibals. In 1926, she travelled through Indonesia, Java, and Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, Thailand, and Burma. A year later, she visited Kolkata, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and Karachi in India. When her mother informed her that she had taken ill, she decided to journey home. Collector’s items from her travels are now on display at the Regional Museum of Celje.

A Decade of European Fame 

During the first decade after her return, she lived in her childhood home in Celje.  She spent her time organising her travel notes, published travelogues, and holding lectures.  Her books attracted attention from the European public, and numerous guests visited her in Celje. Among them was the journalist and painter Thea Schreiber Gamelin, who remained with Alma until her death. In the 1930s, Alma delved into theosophy and ancient civilizations. She took long hikes. She chronicled her adventures from travels around Slovenia in travel diaries, accompanied by botanical sketches. The diaries, found in 2021, were published in 2023 under the title On Foot Through Home Places (translated by Jerneja Jezernik, Mohorjeva družba).

Difficult Life during the Period of War

In the tense conditions prior to World War II, Alma Karlin, who wrote all her works in German, stopped publishing in the German press in protest against Nazism, while also hiding a journalist and anti-Nazi in her home. Under pressure from the Germans in Celje, she traded her house in the centre of Celje (which was destroyed in a bombing raid during the World War II) for a house in Zagrad. During the World War II she was arrested by the Gestapo, and towards the end of the war she joined the partisans, who were supposed to enable her to travel from the liberated territory in Bela Krajina to the British in Bari, Italy, and beyond.  This did not happen.  She saw the war end when she was staying in Dalmatia.

Final Years

After the war, Alma’s and Thea’s residence in Zagrad was nationalized, and the two friends relocated to a small cottage in Pečovnik, where they suffered severe hardship. Despite illness, Alma continued writing until her death on January 14, 1950.  She was buried in Svetina, one of her favourite hiking locations. In the village cemetery, she pick her final resting spot herself and, according to locals, planted a spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus) there herself.  The botanical name Euonymus means “to have good fortune” in Greek, something Alma likely knew.