Silvia Rodgers

Silvia Rodgers, Lady Rodgers (3 March 1928 – 8 October 2006), born Silvia Szulman, was a German-Jewish-British writer and political activist. She was married to Bill Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank.

Silvia Rodgers
Born
Silvia Szulman

(1928-03-03)March 3, 1928
DiedOctober 8, 2006(2006-10-08) (aged 78)
OccupationPolitical 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 Rodgers's 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 Rodgers 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), shortlisted for the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize[7]
  • The Politician's Wife: life with Bill Rodgers (2007)

References
  1. Seaton, Jean (9 October 2006). "Silvia Rodgers". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  2. King, Anthony (2006). "The Outsider as Political Leader: the case of Margaret Thatcher". In Berman, Larry (ed.). The Art of Political Leadership: Essays in Honor of Fred I. Greenstein. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  3. Snowman, Daniel (2003). The Hitler Emigrés: The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism. ISBN 9781446405918. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  4. Rodgers, Silvia (1997). "Dancing in the Margins". Red Saint, Pink Daughter.
  5. "Lady Rodgers of Quarry Bank". The Times. 10 October 2006. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  6. "RODGERS, William (b.1928)". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 20 February 2019.
  7. Rodgers, Silvia (1997). "DANCING IN THE MARGINS: Disentangling Berlin, London, the Holocaust and Life as an MP's Wife". Jewish Quarterly. doi:10.1080/0449010X.1997.10706147 (inactive 20 March 2020). Retrieved 20 February 2019.
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