Hellman’s Character Models Lillian Hellman was born on June 20, 1905 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her father was of German Jewish ancestry (Brody 1). Hellman grew up in many different regions of the United States. Since Hellman moved around a lot as a child, she had a “fragmented” education (Brody 1). She attended New York and Columbia University; where she failed to graduate from either Universities. She met Arthur Kober and soon they were married in 1925. In 1929, they traveled to “Germany where she witnessed the anti-Semitism of the embryonic Nazi movement” (Brody 1). This event left a lasting impression on her. In 1930, she met Dashiell Hammett, and soon divorced her husband (Brody). Lillian Hellman had a difficult relationship with Dashiell Hammett, a communist, which parallels with the types of relationships her characters deal with in “Watch on the Rhine.” Lillian Hellman met Dashiell Hammett in 1930 and developed a lifelong and tumultuous relationship with him. “Hellman never married Hammett [which] marked her as an extraordinarily independent woman” (Hae*censored*e). Hammett was “a mystery novelist and film writer” (Brody), and the author of “The Maltese Falcon” (Mitgang). After 1934, Hammett contributed most of his time to the radical “left- wing political activities and to the defense of civil liberties” (Britannica). Hammett’s extremist views caused his relationship with Lillian Hellman to be strenuous. Hellman and Hammett became, however embroiled in the fight against fascism in Europe (Google). During this fight, the FBI became interested in both Hammett and Hellman’s involvement in the Communist Party. In 1951, Hammett was “convicted of contempt of congress” (King), “because he refused to reveal the names of the contributors to the bail bond of which he was a trustee” (Britannica). Hammett was se...
