Seweryna Szmaglewska

Seweryna Szmaglewska
Szmaglewska as seen on the cover of her 1967 novel "Szum wiatru"
Born
Seweryna Maria Szmaglewska

(1916-02-11)11 February 1916
Przygłów, Congress Poland, Russian Empire
Died7 July 1992(1992-07-07) (aged 76)
Warsaw, Poland
Resting placeBródno Cemetery
NationalityPolish
Other namesSeweryna Maria Szmaglewska-Wiśniewska
Occupation(s)writer and children's author
SpouseWitold Wiśniewski (m. 1946)
Children2

Seweryna Maria Szmaglewska (Seweryna Maria Szmaglewska-Wiśniewska) (11 February 1916 – 7 July 1992) was a Polish writer, known for both books for children and adults alike, and an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II. Her novels Czarne Stopy [pl] (Black Feet) and Dymy nad Birkenau (Smoke over Birkenau) are compulsory reading in Polish schools.

Biography

Szmaglewska's grave in Bródno Cemetery

She was born on 11 February 1916, in Przygłów near Piotrków Trybunalski, then in Central Powers-occupied part of the Kingdom of Poland. She graduated from the Free Polish University and went on to study at the Polish language and literature faculties of the Jagiellonian University of Kraków and the University of Łódź. Between 1942 and 1945 she was an inmate of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oświęcim after spending two months in the prisons of Piotrków and Częstochowa. In 1945 she successfully escaped the Nazis during a death march to Gross-Rosen.[1][2][3]: 203–204  As a Nazi camp survivor, she was one of two Poles to testify at the Nuremberg Trials on 27 February 1946 (the other witness being Samuel Rajzman).[2][4][5] Her testimony concerned the abuse of children in Auschwitz.[4][6]

After the war she went on to be a successful writer. Initially focusing on her war-time experiences (Dymy nad Birkenau (Smoke over Birkenau), Łączy nas gniew, Niewinni w Norymberdze), with time she also started publishing novels for teenagers. Her best-known novel Czarne Stopy [pl] (Black Feet; published in 1960), about Polish boyscouts, was later turned into a 1986 film of the same title [pl] (premiered in 1987) by Waldemar Podgórski [pl]. In 1973 the continuation of the novel, Nowy ślad Czarnych Stóp (A New Trail of Black Feet), was published. Her novels Czarne Stopy and Dymy nad Birkenau are compulsory reading in Polish schools [3]: 203–204 [7] Her 1972 novel Niewinni w Norymberdze (The Innocents at Nuremberg) recounted her experiences at the Nuremberg Trial.[8]: 160 

Her books have been translated into a number of languages, including English and French.[9]: 547 

In 1946 she married Witold Wiśniewski, whom she met earlier in Oświęcim. They had two sons: Witold and Jack. Seweryna Szmaglewska died on 7 July 1992, in Warsaw and was interred in Bródno Cemetery.[2]

Awards and decorations

Her awards include:[2]

  • Złoty Krzyż Zasługi (1953),
  • Krzyż Komandorski Orderu Odrodzenia Polski (1960),
  • 1st class award of the Minister of Culture and Arts for the entire literary work, including in particular „Dymy nad Birkenau” and „Niewinni w Norymberdze” (1973),
  • Order Sztandaru Pracy I klasy (1978).
  • a special award of the Kwatera Główna of the ZHP for the novel „Nowy ślad Czarnych Stóp” (1979)

References

  1. ^ Jacek Lachendro, Ucieczki więźniów KL Auschwitz w czasie marszu śmierci. Pomoc mieszkańców Śląska dla uciekinierów. In: "Kierunek Loslau. Marsz ewakuacyjny więźniów oświęcimskich w styczniu 1945 roku", Wodzisław Śląski 2016
  2. ^ a b c d "Życie i twórczość Seweryny Szmaglewskiej"
  3. ^ a b Sundquist, Eric J. (25 June 2018). Writing in Witness: A Holocaust Reader. SUNY Press. ISBN 978-1-4384-7031-3.
  4. ^ a b Finder, Gabriel N.; Prusin, Alexander V. (1 January 2018). Justice Behind the Iron Curtain: Nazis on Trial in Communist Poland. University of Toronto Press. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-1-4875-2268-1.
  5. ^ Finder, Gabriel N.; Prusin, Alexander V. (1 January 2018). Justice Behind the Iron Curtain: Nazis on Trial in Communist Poland. University of Toronto Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-1-4875-2268-1.
  6. ^ Hirsch, Francine (23 April 2020). Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal after World War II. Oxford University Press. pp. 238–239. ISBN 978-0-19-937795-4.
  7. ^ Bryl, Andrzej (2021). Zbrodnie przeciwko ludzkości w doktrynie i orzecznictwie międzynarodowych trybunałów karnych (in Polish). Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar. p. 144. ISBN 978-83-66849-05-1.
  8. ^ Polish Western Affairs. Instytut Zachodni. 1974.
  9. ^ Jakowska, Krystyna (2006). Podręczny słownik pisarzy polskich (in Polish). Wiedza Powszechna. ISBN 978-83-214-1360-0.

Further reading

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