On her 15th birthday, the future poet Nelly Sachs received the novel Gösta Berling by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf as a present. The book had a lasting impression on her. Her first publication of her own, Legenden und Erzählungen (Legends and stories) fifteen years later is still clearly inspired by Lagerlöf's prose. In 1921, Sachs sent the book to her admired role model and received a postcard in response: "Many thanks for the lovely book! I couldn't have done it better myself."

This was the start of correspondence between the two women, revolving around their literary production. It wasn't until after Pogrom Night on 9 November 1938 that Sachs made a personal request: She wanted to leave Germany with her mother, however she needed support from abroad for the required paperwork. Her desperation and deep regard for the recipient is clearly expressed in her letter to her colleague, who was now over eighty. Initially, she did not receive a response. Then, her friend Gudrun Dähnert called on the sick author in person and received a short handwritten letter of recommendation.

It took almost a full year after this before all the necessary documents were ready. Nelly Sachs and her mother arrived in Stockholm in May 1940. Selma Lagerlöf had died two months earlier.