Ulla Berkéwicz, born Ursula Schmidt on November 5, is a German actress, author, and publisher. She adopted the stage name "Berkéwicz" in 1968, derived from her Jewish grandmother's family name, "Berkowitz."
Ursula Schmidt was born in Gießen, a mid-sized town known for its prosperity, located north of Frankfurt. Her birth year has been a topic of speculation, as she previously claimed to have been born in 1951, a date that has raised questions among commentators due to inconsistencies with her childhood timeline. Born in the aftermath of World War II, Gießen had experienced significant bombing during the war. Her father, Werner Schmidt, was a physician and author whose career was severely impacted by the Nazi regime, which classified him as "half-Jewish." After the war, he became the Medical Director at Hanau's main hospital in 1965. Her mother, Herta Stoepel, was an actress. Ursula spent her childhood in a large "Jugendstil" apartment in Hanau, shared with her family, including her grandparents and younger brother. She later described her upbringing in an autobiographical essay as occurring "somewhere between anarchy and milkshakes," with the "Hanau 67 Milk Bar" serving as a significant part of her adolescent life. The contrasting backgrounds of her family, which included "fanatical Nazis" and a Jewish grandmother connected to Holocaust victims, created a complex home environment. In 1966, after completing secondary school at a notably young age, she enrolled at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt am Main (HfMDK), where she studied for three years.
Berkéwicz made her stage debut in 1970 at the Stuttgart State Theater in a production directed by Peter Palitzsch. Throughout the 1970s, she took on increasingly prominent roles in major theaters across Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg, Bochum, and West Berlin, while also building a parallel career as a translator of classical drama, translating works by Calderón, Shakespeare, and Synge. In addition to her stage work, she was involved in film projects. Notably, in 1979/80, she starred in "Geburt der Hexe" ("Birth of the Witch"), directed by Wilfried Minks, who was her husband at the time.
In 1982, Berkéwicz published her first short story, "Josef stirbt" ("Josef Dies"), reflecting on the death of her ninety-year-old father, inspired by the death of her father-in-law. This marked the year she transitioned away from the stage to focus on her career as a freelance author and translator.
She moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1987, and her first stage play, "Nur Wir," was completed in 1991, premiering at the Munich Kammerspiele in April of that year, under the direction of Urs Troller. Her connection with the publishing world began with the publication of "Josef stirbt" by Suhrkamp Verlag, a respected Berlin publishing house. During negotiations, she met Siegfried Unseld, a co-owner of the company, and they married in 1990. Their marriage lasted until Unseld's death in 2002. Following his passing, Berkéwicz published "Überlebnis," a work interpreted by commentators as a literary requiem reflecting her grief and celebrating their marriage.
After becoming widowed, Unseld-Berkéwicz joined the top management team at Suhrkamp Verlag. In October 2003, she was appointed chair of the main board, with Günter Berg as her deputy, following a reconfiguration of the management team that included consultation with the Authors' Advisory Committee, comprised of prominent authors such as Jürgen Habermas and Alexander Kluge. This period saw significant changes within the company, including the appointment of Heinrich Lübbert, her former divorce lawyer, as general counsel. Following these developments, Berkéwicz gained considerable wealth, and Lübbert became her testamentary executor and a board member of the Peter-Suhrkamp-Stiftung, established to enhance authors' roles in decision-making.
On December 10, 2015, Ursula Unseld-Berkéwicz stepped down from the management board, succeeded by Jonathan Landgrebe. She established a supervisory board, which she chairs, consisting of Rachel Salamander, Sylvia Ströher, and herself.
Ulla Berkéwicz is also a member of the internationally networked PEN Centre Germany organization.
