Kathinka Halein grew up in
Mainz. Born to Anton Victor and Anna Marie Markowitzka Halein. The family was well off until the Napoleonic Wars. During the wars they were forced to live sparingly and moved in with Zitz-Halein's maternal grandmother's house. Her mother died on May 26, 1825, and her father grew increasingly erratic and violent. She wrote for the
Mannheimer Abendzeitung, opposing censorship and calling for reform in marriage, divorce and guardianship laws. In the
German revolutions of 1848–49 she founded and was first president of the Humania Association, the largest revolutionary women's organization. A prolific short story writer, in the 1860s she wrote fictionalized biographical novels of
Goethe,
Heine,
Rahel Varnhagen and
Byron. == Published works ==