Lou Andreas-Salomé (born either Louise von Salomé or Luíza Gustavovna Salomé or Lioulia von Salomé, Russian: Луиза Густавовна Саломе; 12 February 1861 – 5 February 1937) was a Russian-born psychoanalyst and a well-traveled author, narrator, and essayist from a French Huguenot-German family. Her diverse intellectual interests led to friendships with a broad array of distinguished thinkers, including Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Paul Rée, and Rainer Maria Rilke.
Early years
Lou Salomé was born in St. Petersburg to Gustav Ludwig von Salomé (1807–1878), and Louise von Salomé (née Wilm) (1823–1913). Lou was their youngest child and only daughter; they had five sons. Although she would later be attacked by the Nazis as a "Finnish Jew", her parents were of French Huguenot and Northern German descent. She grew up in a wealthy and well-cultured household, with all children learning Russian, German, and French; Salomé was allowed to attend her brothers' classes.
Born into a strictly Protestant family, Salomé grew to resent the Reformed church and Hermann Dalton, the Orthodox Protestant pastor. She refused to be confirmed by Dalton, officially left the church at age 16, but remained interested in intellectual pursuits in the areas of philosophy, literature and religion.
She was interested in the sermons of the Dutch pastor Hendrik Gillot, who tutored her in the fields of theology, philosophy, world religions, and French and German literature.
According to Salomé in Ruth, written after Gillot's death, he became so smitten with her that he wanted to divorce his wife and marry her. Her account is doubted by her biographer Rudolph Binion, but in any case, Salomé claims she turned him down.
