{"id":9718,"date":"2023-12-11T16:27:31","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T15:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?p=9718"},"modified":"2024-12-16T18:42:53","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T17:42:53","slug":"zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2022\/03\/30\/ppu\/\"><strong><em>Polish Poetry Unites<\/em><\/strong><\/a> is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode <a href=\"https:\/\/www.edwardhirsch.com\/about\/\"><strong>Edward Hirsch<\/strong><\/a>, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ripVCUTCzw0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of <strong>Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/strong>,&nbsp;originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to American audiences, one of the most talented and independent Polish poets of the 20th century, whose feminist poetry has only recently been properly acknowledged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born in Kiev in 1917, Zuzanna Ginczanka, a great Polish Jewish poetess was murdered by the Nazis in Krak\u00f3w in&nbsp;1944 at age 27, after more than two years spent in hiding.  Anna Muller, Mira Rosenthal, and Joanna Trzeciak Huss have covered her work in a recent installment of our <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2021\/01\/12\/encounters-with-polish-literature\/\">Encounters with Polish Literature<\/a><\/strong> video series  hosted by David A. Goldfarb, PhD :  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Zuzanna Ginczanka - Encounters with Polish Literature - S3E9\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/68L0y04Ypi4?start=34&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Following the exploration of Ginczanka&#8217;s poetry by Edward Hirsch (more below) the video showcases the biographical story of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/film\/2022\/may\/06\/name-names-never-never-never-lee-grant-on-her-decades-of-defiance\">Lee Grant<\/a><\/strong>, Oscar winning actress and film director who is an admirer of Ginczanka&#8217;s poetry.&nbsp;&nbsp;Lee who was born just a few years later than Ginczanka&nbsp;&nbsp;shares her life experience touching on issues of politics and antisemitism. At 98 <a href=\"https:\/\/forward.com\/culture\/562182\/lee-grant-blacklist-oscar-shampoo-tell-me-a-riddle\/\">Lee Grant<\/a> remains active and driven to make a positive impact on the world: the fascinating life that Ginczanka could have experienced if she had been born on this side of the Atlantic. The video ends with Lee reading Ginczanka&#8217;s poem <em>Explenation in the Marigin<\/em> from the collection <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyrb.com\/products\/firebird\"><em>Firebird<\/em><\/a><\/strong> which was just published by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyrb.com\/\">New York Review of Books<\/a>. The poems were translated by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyrb.com\/collections\/alissa-valles\"> Alissa Vales<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the video Edward Hirsch says<em>:&nbsp; <\/em>&#8222;Zuzanna Ginczanka is a wonderful person. Last year a biography was published in Poland and I very much hope it will be published here.&nbsp;There are three books coming out in English in the next few years so American readers are about to discover a really wonderful underrated poet. She was a Polish Jew, a Polish Jewish poet really, she was born in Ukraine, 1917. Part of the Russian empire, her family spoke Russian. She didn\u2019t know any Yiddish. But, she loved Polish poetry and her friends spoke Polish. She decided that she wanted to be a Polish poet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her parents really abandoned her, she was raised by her grandmother. And when she was 18, she moved to Warsaw. There, she was taken up by <a href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/03\/15\/julian-tuwim-the-master-of-the-polish-word\/\">Tuwim<\/a>, the most important inter war Polish poet and the leader of <a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/article\/poland-cultural-scene-1918\">Skamander<\/a>&#8230;. She published only one book, it\u2019s quite remarkable, it\u2019s called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldliteraturetoday.org\/blog\/book-reviews\/poetry-poised-take-flight-zuzanna-ginczankas-centaurs-and-other-poems-alice\">On Centaurs<\/a>. The metaphor of the centaur, which she takes from male poets and repositions it from a feminist perspective, is really half body half spirit. Half animal, half spiritual person. She was amazingly skillful as a poet and it\u2019s very difficult for translators to capture her ability, especially her gift for rhyming which was admired by everyone. She was caught in the vice of being Jewish in Poland between the wars, and in the Nazi takeover she saw coming. She fled to Lviv, which was part of Poland. She went into hiding. her grandmother had given her everything from the family. And unfortunately for her, she was denounced by the concierge of the building who wanted her property and to get rid of her. She wrote her most famous poem in response,&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.academia.edu\/43379270\/non_omnis_moriar_by_Zuzanna_Ginczanka\">Non Omnis Moriar,<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;based on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pantheonpoets.com\/poems\/horaces-monument\/\">Horace<\/a> poem.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\u2019s a famous Polish romantic poem called <em><a href=\"http:\/\/slowacki.chez.com\/slowmyts.htm\">My Testament<\/a><\/em>, (by<a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/artist\/juliusz-slowacki\"> Juliusz S\u0142owacki<\/a>) which she basically rewrote in a very bitter way. After the war, the poem was used to convict the concierge and her son for turning her over to the Nazis and stealing her property.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She escaped for some time, no one knows exactly how, but she moved to Krak\u00f3w and went into hiding. She was eventually caught by the Nazis. She was arrested, no one knows exactly how she was killed, but there\u2019s a consensus that she was shot and murdered in 1944. She was very young, but she had written all these poems, not just the poems that survived. And her legend lived on. Polish poets have always known how good she was, and now she\u2019s finally having her day. Her life was short but her poems are permanent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The video about Zuzanna Ginczanka from POLISH POETRY UNITES video series was realized with additional support from the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.taubephilanthropies.org\/\"> Taube Philanthropies<\/a> and following partners: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/\">The New York Review of Books<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nywift.org\/\">New York Women in Film &amp; Television<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/muzeumliteratury.pl\/\">Museum of Literature [Muzeum Literatury]<\/a> in Warsaw, Poland.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><strong><em>Wyja\u015bnienie na marginesie<\/em><\/strong><br>by Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:3px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Nie powsta\u0142am<br>z prochu,<br>nie obr\u00f3c\u0119 si\u0119<br>w proch.<br>Nie zst\u0105pi\u0142am<br>z nieba<br>i nie wr\u00f3c\u0119 do nieba.<br>Jestem sama niebem<br>tak jak szklisty strop.<br>Jestem sama ziemi\u0105<br>tak jak rodna gleba.<br>Nie uciek\u0142am<br>znik\u0105d<br>i nie wr\u00f3c\u0119<br>tam.<br>Opr\u00f3cz samej siebie nie znam innej dali.<br>W wzd\u0119tym p\u0142ucu wiatru<br>i w zwapnieniu ska\u0142<br>musz\u0119<br>siebie<br>tutaj<br>rozproszon\u0105<br>znale\u017a\u0107.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(wiersz z tomu <em>Zuzanna Ginczanka, \u201eO centaurach\u201d, Warszawa 1936<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em><strong>Explanation in the Margin<\/strong><\/em>                                        by Zuzanna Giczanka                                      Translated from the Polish by &nbsp;Alissa Valles                <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I did not rise<br>from dust,<br>I will not turn<br>to dust.<br>I did not descend<br>from heaven<br>and I won\u2019t return<br>to heaven.<br>I myself am heaven,<br>like a glass vault.<br>I myself am earth,<br>like fertile clay.<br>I haven\u2019t fled<br>from anywhere<br>nor will I return<br>there.<br>I know no remove but myself.<br>In the wind\u2019s swelling lung<br>and in calcifying rock<br>I must<br>find myself<br>as I am<br>scattered<br>here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> (from \u201c<em>Firebird<\/em>\u201d published by the New York Review of Books, 2023)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"629\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/z-zabkami-ginczanka_wystawa_11.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9725\" style=\"width:470px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/z-zabkami-ginczanka_wystawa_11.jpg 629w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/z-zabkami-ginczanka_wystawa_11-236x300.jpg 236w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 629px) 100vw, 629px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s ID photo, 1938; photo: Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature, Warsaw<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zuzanna Ginczanka&nbsp;<\/strong>(1917\u20131945) was a Polish-Jewish poet and satirist. Born in Kyiv, Ginczanka was raised in Rowne, where her parents settled after fleeing from the Russian Civil War. Ginczanka was highly active in the Skamander poetic group, and her writing for&nbsp;Szpilki&nbsp;and&nbsp;Skamander&nbsp;magazines earned her a reputation as one of the most talented poets of the interwar period.&nbsp; In 1936, Ginczanka published her only volume of poetry,&nbsp;O Centaurach&nbsp;(About Centaurs). In 1945, Ginczanka was arrested and executed in Krakow, shortly before the end of World War II. Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s last poem, \u201cNon omnis moriar&#8230;&#8221; (\u201cNot all of me shall die\u201d), written shortly before her execution by the Nazis in the last months of World War II, is one of the most famous and unsettling texts in modern East European literature: a fiercely ironic last will and testament that names the person who betrayed her to the occupying authorities as a Jew, it exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Polish nationalist myths. Ginczanka\u2019s linguistic exuberance and invention\u2014reminiscent now of Marina Tsvetaeva, now of Marianne Moore or Mina Loy\u2014are as exhilarating as the passionate fusion of the physical world and the world of ideas she advocated in her work.&nbsp;Firebird&nbsp;brings together many of Ginczanka\u2019s uncollected poems and presents&nbsp;<em>On Centaurs<\/em>, her sole published book, in its entirety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Biography source: the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nyrb.com\/\">NYRB<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"657\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/okladka-61uIKxY9O8L._SL1500_-657x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9726\" style=\"width:447px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/okladka-61uIKxY9O8L._SL1500_-657x1024.jpg 657w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/okladka-61uIKxY9O8L._SL1500_-192x300.jpg 192w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/okladka-61uIKxY9O8L._SL1500_-768x1198.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/okladka-61uIKxY9O8L._SL1500_.jpg 962w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 657px) 100vw, 657px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>More about Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldpoetrybooks.com\/product\/on-centaurs-other-poems\/\">On Centaurs &amp; Other Poems (Poems by Zuzanna Ginczanka Translated from the Polish by Alex Braslavsky)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"About Centaurs by&nbsp;Zuzanna Ginczanka\">from: About Centaurs by&nbsp;Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldliteraturetoday.org\/blog\/book-reviews\/poetry-poised-take-flight-zuzanna-ginczankas-centaurs-and-other-poems-alice\">Poetry Poised to Take Flight: Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s On Centaurs and Other Poems<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.asymptotejournal.com\/blog\/2023\/06\/07\/forceful-in-fury-forceful-in-beauty-an-interview-with-alex-braslavsky-on-translating-zuzanna-ginczanka\/\">Forceful in Fury, Forceful in Beauty: An Interview with Alex Braslavsky on Translating Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/artist\/zuzanna-ginczanka\">Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newohioreview.org\/2021\/11\/30\/ginczanka-bio-note\/\">Zuzanna Ginczanka Biographical Note<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/poets\/zuzanna-ginczanka\">Zuzanna Ginczanka \/ Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/articles\/160672\/not-everything-dies\">Not Everything Dies \/ Poetry Foundation<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dancigerbleter.wordpress.com\/2018\/02\/11\/ginczanka-poet-prism-prophet\/\">GINCZANKA \u2013 POET, PRISM, PROPHET<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biweekly.pl\/article\/2120-something-or-otherthe-portrait-of-zuzanna-ginczanka.html\">SOMETHING OR OTHER: THE PORTRAIT OF ZUZANNA GINCZANKA <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/interrupted-country\/non-presence-capturing-zuzanna-ginczanka\">(Non-)Presence: Capturing Zuzanna Ginczanka<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/article\/zuzanna-ginczankas-beauty-and-brand\">Zuzanna Ginczanka&#8217;s Beauty &amp; Brand<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/article\/invoking-zuzanna-ginczanka-translation-in-a-time-of-love-war\">Invoking Zuzanna Ginczanka: Translation in a Time of Love &amp; War<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lvivcenter.org\/en\/exhibition\/zuzanna-ginczanka-only-happiness-is-real-life\/\">Zuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness is Real Life Exhibition in Lviv<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/fundacjapsn.pl\/en\/project\/english-tylko-szczescie-jest-prawdziwym-zyciem-wystawa-poswiecona-zuzannie-ginczance\/\">Zuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness Is Real Life Exhibition in Warsaw and Krak\u00f3w<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/article\/the-crash-of-silence-on-silence-polish-poetry-the-holocaust\">The Crash of Silence on Silence: Polish Poetry &amp; the Holocaust<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/culture.pl\/en\/article\/the-holocaust-in-polish-literature-7-key-books\">The Holocaust in Polish Literature: 7 Key Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Moderator: Edward Hirsch<\/em><br><em>Writer and Director: Ewa Zadrzy\u0144ska<br>Cinematography: Jacek Mieros\u0142awski<br>Editor: Anna J\u0119drzejewska<br>Curator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"318\" height=\"224\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-30-at-3.02.31-PM.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-5726\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-30-at-3.02.31-PM.png 318w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2022\/03\/Screen-Shot-2022-03-30-at-3.02.31-PM-300x211.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 318px) 100vw, 318px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edwardhirsch.com\">Edward Hirsch<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller&nbsp;about reading poetry entitled&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.poetryfoundation.org\/articles\/69955\/how-to-read-a-poem\"><strong>How to Read A Poem And Fall In Love With Poetry<\/strong><\/a>&nbsp;<\/em>published in 2014. He has published nine books of poems, including&nbsp;<em>The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems<\/em>&nbsp;(2010) and&nbsp;<em>Gabriel: A Poem<\/em>&nbsp;(2014), a book-length elegy for his son that&nbsp;The New Yorker called \u201ca masterpiece of sorrow.\u201d He has also published five prose books about poetry.&nbsp;&nbsp;His latest book of essays,&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.edwardhirsch.com\/100-poems\/\"><strong>100 Poems to Break your Heart<\/strong><\/a><\/em>&nbsp;was published in 2021.&nbsp;&nbsp;He is president of the&nbsp;Guggenheim Memorial Foundation&nbsp;in New York City. Currently he is finishing a book of essays&nbsp;called&nbsp;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/700429\/the-heart-of-american-poetry-by-edward-hirsch\/\"><strong>The Heart of American Poetry<\/strong><\/a>.&nbsp;<\/em>It will be published in April to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Library of America.&nbsp;The book consists of deeply personal readings of forty essential American poems. It rethinks the American tradition in poetry.&nbsp;&nbsp;Ed Hirsch lives in New York City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Lead image: Zuzanna Ginczanka, 1938, fot. Muzeum Literatury \/ East News<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:8px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"70\" src=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-1024x70.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9780\" srcset=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-1024x70.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-300x20.jpg 300w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-768x52.jpg 768w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-1536x104.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/Logo-3-1-2048x139.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka,&nbsp;originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":165,"featured_media":9724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,17,15,204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-film","category-history","category-literature","category-polish-jewish"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pl_PL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka,&nbsp;originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-11T15:27:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-16T17:42:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"642\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"steczkowskam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Napisane przez\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"steczkowskam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Szacowany czas czytania\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minut\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"event\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/\",\"name\":\"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_-300x193.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\",\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\"],\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T15:27:31+02:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-12-16T17:42:53+02:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5398162e9037f8449cc495b4e42c4559\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/\"]}],\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"startDate\":\"2023-12-11\",\"endDate\":\"2023-12-11\",\"eventStatus\":\"EventScheduled\",\"eventAttendanceMode\":\"OfflineEventAttendanceMode\",\"location\":{\"@type\":\"place\",\"name\":\"\",\"address\":\"\",\"geo\":{\"@type\":\"GeoCoordinates\",\"latitude\":\"\",\"longitude\":\"\"}},\"description\":\"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. \\nThis episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka, originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to American audiences, one of the most talented and independent Polish poets of the 20th century, whose feminist poetry has only recently been properly acknowledged.\\nBorn in Kiev in 1917, Zuzanna Ginczanka, a great Polish Jewish poetess was murdered by the Nazis in Krak\u00f3w in 1944 at age 27, after more than two years spent in hiding.  Anna Muller, Mira Rosenthal, and Joanna Trzeciak Huss have covered her work in a recent installment of our Encounters with Polish Literature video series  hosted by David A. Goldfarb, PhD :  \\nFollowing the exploration of Ginczanka's poetry by Edward Hirsch (more below) the video showcases the biographical story of Lee Grant, Oscar winning actress and film director who is an admirer of Ginczanka's poetry.  Lee who was born just a few years later than Ginczanka  shares her life experience touching on issues of politics and antisemitism. At 98 Lee Grant remains active and driven to make a positive impact on the world: the fascinating life that Ginczanka could have experienced if she had been born on this side of the Atlantic. The video ends with Lee reading Ginczanka's poem Explenation in the Marigin from the collection Firebird which was just published by the New York Review of Books. The poems were translated by Alissa Vales.\\nIn the video Edward Hirsch says:  \\\"Zuzanna Ginczanka is a wonderful person. Last year a biography was published in Poland and I very much hope it will be published here. There are three books coming out in English in the next few years so American readers are about to discover a really wonderful underrated poet. She was a Polish Jew, a Polish Jewish poet really, she was born in Ukraine, 1917. Part of the Russian empire, her family spoke Russian. She didn\u2019t know any Yiddish. But, she loved Polish poetry and her friends spoke Polish. She decided that she wanted to be a Polish poet.\\nHer parents really abandoned her, she was raised by her grandmother. And when she was 18, she moved to Warsaw. There, she was taken up by Tuwim, the most important inter war Polish poet and the leader of Skamander.... She published only one book, it\u2019s quite remarkable, it\u2019s called On Centaurs. The metaphor of the centaur, which she takes from male poets and repositions it from a feminist perspective, is really half body half spirit. Half animal, half spiritual person. She was amazingly skillful as a poet and it\u2019s very difficult for translators to capture her ability, especially her gift for rhyming which was admired by everyone. She was caught in the vice of being Jewish in Poland between the wars, and in the Nazi takeover she saw coming. She fled to Lviv, which was part of Poland. She went into hiding. her grandmother had given her everything from the family. And unfortunately for her, she was denounced by the concierge of the building who wanted her property and to get rid of her. She wrote her most famous poem in response, Non Omnis Moriar, based on a Horace poem.  \\nThere\u2019s a famous Polish romantic poem called My Testament, (by Juliusz S\u0142owacki) which she basically rewrote in a very bitter way. After the war, the poem was used to convict the concierge and her son for turning her over to the Nazis and stealing her property. \\nShe escaped for some time, no one knows exactly how, but she moved to Krak\u00f3w and went into hiding. She was eventually caught by the Nazis. She was arrested, no one knows exactly how she was killed, but there\u2019s a consensus that she was shot and murdered in 1944. She was very young, but she had written all these poems, not just the poems that survived. And her legend lived on. Polish poets have always known how good she was, and now she\u2019s finally having her day. Her life was short but her poems are permanent.\u201d\\nThe video about Zuzanna Ginczanka from POLISH POETRY UNITES video series was realized with additional support from the Taube Philanthropies and following partners: The New York Review of Books, New York Women in Film &amp; Television and Museum of Literature [Muzeum Literatury] in Warsaw, Poland.\\nWyja\u015bnienie na marginesieby Zuzanna Ginczanka\\nNie powsta\u0142amz prochu,nie obr\u00f3c\u0119 si\u0119w proch.Nie zst\u0105pi\u0142amz niebai nie wr\u00f3c\u0119 do nieba.Jestem sama niebemtak jak szklisty strop.Jestem sama ziemi\u0105tak jak rodna gleba.Nie uciek\u0142amznik\u0105di nie wr\u00f3c\u0119tam.Opr\u00f3cz samej siebie nie znam innej dali.W wzd\u0119tym p\u0142ucu wiatrui w zwapnieniu ska\u0142musz\u0119siebietutajrozproszon\u0105znale\u017a\u0107.\\n(wiersz z tomu Zuzanna Ginczanka, \u201eO centaurach\u201d, Warszawa 1936)\\nExplanation in the Margin                                        by Zuzanna Giczanka                                      Translated from the Polish by  Alissa Valles                \\nI did not risefrom dust,I will not turnto dust.I did not descendfrom heavenand I won\u2019t returnto heaven.I myself am heaven,like a glass vault.I myself am earth,like fertile clay.I haven\u2019t fledfrom anywherenor will I returnthere.I know no remove but myself.In the wind\u2019s swelling lungand in calcifying rockI mustfind myselfas I amscatteredhere.\\n (from \u201cFirebird\u201d published by the New York Review of Books, 2023)\\nZuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s ID photo, 1938; photo: Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature, Warsaw\\nZuzanna Ginczanka (1917\u20131945) was a Polish-Jewish poet and satirist. Born in Kyiv, Ginczanka was raised in Rowne, where her parents settled after fleeing from the Russian Civil War. Ginczanka was highly active in the Skamander poetic group, and her writing for Szpilki and Skamander magazines earned her a reputation as one of the most talented poets of the interwar period.  In 1936, Ginczanka published her only volume of poetry, O Centaurach (About Centaurs). In 1945, Ginczanka was arrested and executed in Krakow, shortly before the end of World War II. Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s last poem, \u201cNon omnis moriar...\\\" (\u201cNot all of me shall die\u201d), written shortly before her execution by the Nazis in the last months of World War II, is one of the most famous and unsettling texts in modern East European literature: a fiercely ironic last will and testament that names the person who betrayed her to the occupying authorities as a Jew, it exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Polish nationalist myths. Ginczanka\u2019s linguistic exuberance and invention\u2014reminiscent now of Marina Tsvetaeva, now of Marianne Moore or Mina Loy\u2014are as exhilarating as the passionate fusion of the physical world and the world of ideas she advocated in her work. Firebird brings together many of Ginczanka\u2019s uncollected poems and presents On Centaurs, her sole published book, in its entirety. \\nBiography source: the NYRB\\nMore about Zuzanna Ginczanka\\nOn Centaurs &amp; Other Poems (Poems by Zuzanna Ginczanka Translated from the Polish by Alex Braslavsky)\\nfrom: About Centaurs by Zuzanna Ginczanka\\nPoetry Poised to Take Flight: Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s On Centaurs and Other Poems\\nForceful in Fury, Forceful in Beauty: An Interview with Alex Braslavsky on Translating Zuzanna Ginczanka\\nZuzanna Ginczanka\\nZuzanna Ginczanka Biographical Note\\nZuzanna Ginczanka \/ Poetry Foundation\\nNot Everything Dies \/ Poetry Foundation\\nGINCZANKA \u2013 POET, PRISM, PROPHET\\nSOMETHING OR OTHER: THE PORTRAIT OF ZUZANNA GINCZANKA \\n(Non-)Presence: Capturing Zuzanna Ginczanka \\nZuzanna Ginczanka's Beauty &amp; Brand\\nInvoking Zuzanna Ginczanka: Translation in a Time of Love &amp; War\\nZuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness is Real Life Exhibition in Lviv\\nZuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness Is Real Life Exhibition in Warsaw and Krak\u00f3w\\nThe Crash of Silence on Silence: Polish Poetry &amp; the Holocaust\\nThe Holocaust in Polish Literature: 7 Key Books\\nModerator: Edward HirschWriter and Director: Ewa Zadrzy\u0144skaCinematography: Jacek Mieros\u0142awskiEditor: Anna J\u0119drzejewskaCurator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko\\nEdward Hirsch is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry entitled How to Read A Poem And Fall In Love With Poetry published in 2014. He has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems (2010) and Gabriel: A Poem (2014), a book-length elegy for his son that The New Yorker called \u201ca masterpiece of sorrow.\u201d He has also published five prose books about poetry.  His latest book of essays, 100 Poems to Break your Heart was published in 2021.  He is president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City. Currently he is finishing a book of essays called The Heart of American Poetry. It will be published in April to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Library of America. The book consists of deeply personal readings of forty essential American poems. It rethinks the American tradition in poetry.  Ed Hirsch lives in New York City.\\nLead image: Zuzanna Ginczanka, 1938, fot. Muzeum Literatury \/ East News\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":642},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/\",\"name\":\"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku\",\"description\":\"Instytuty Polskie\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5398162e9037f8449cc495b4e42c4559\",\"name\":\"steczkowskam\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"pl-PL\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4835f40fc2ea5dbb79117d9759d63b2a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4835f40fc2ea5dbb79117d9759d63b2a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"steczkowskam\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/steczkowskam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/","og_locale":"pl_PL","og_type":"article","og_title":"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope - Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","og_description":"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. This episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka,&nbsp;originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/","og_site_name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","article_published_time":"2023-12-11T15:27:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-16T17:42:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":642,"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"steczkowskam","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Napisane przez":"steczkowskam","Szacowany czas czytania":"10 minut"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"event","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/","name":"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#primaryimage"},"image":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_-300x193.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg"],"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-11T15:27:31+02:00","dateModified":"2024-12-16T17:42:53+02:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5398162e9037f8449cc495b4e42c4559"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"pl-PL","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/"]}],"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","startDate":"2023-12-11","endDate":"2023-12-11","eventStatus":"EventScheduled","eventAttendanceMode":"OfflineEventAttendanceMode","location":{"@type":"place","name":"","address":"","geo":{"@type":"GeoCoordinates","latitude":"","longitude":""}},"description":"Polish Poetry Unites is\u202fa video series for anyone interested in literature, history and reading. In each episode Edward Hirsch, a distinguished American poet, and the president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will introduce a celebrated Polish poet to American audiences. \nThis episode of Polish Poetry Unites introduces the work of Zuzanna Ginczanka, originally Zuzanna Gincburg, to American audiences, one of the most talented and independent Polish poets of the 20th century, whose feminist poetry has only recently been properly acknowledged.\nBorn in Kiev in 1917, Zuzanna Ginczanka, a great Polish Jewish poetess was murdered by the Nazis in Krak\u00f3w in 1944 at age 27, after more than two years spent in hiding.  Anna Muller, Mira Rosenthal, and Joanna Trzeciak Huss have covered her work in a recent installment of our Encounters with Polish Literature video series  hosted by David A. Goldfarb, PhD :  \nFollowing the exploration of Ginczanka's poetry by Edward Hirsch (more below) the video showcases the biographical story of Lee Grant, Oscar winning actress and film director who is an admirer of Ginczanka's poetry.  Lee who was born just a few years later than Ginczanka  shares her life experience touching on issues of politics and antisemitism. At 98 Lee Grant remains active and driven to make a positive impact on the world: the fascinating life that Ginczanka could have experienced if she had been born on this side of the Atlantic. The video ends with Lee reading Ginczanka's poem Explenation in the Marigin from the collection Firebird which was just published by the New York Review of Books. The poems were translated by Alissa Vales.\nIn the video Edward Hirsch says:  \"Zuzanna Ginczanka is a wonderful person. Last year a biography was published in Poland and I very much hope it will be published here. There are three books coming out in English in the next few years so American readers are about to discover a really wonderful underrated poet. She was a Polish Jew, a Polish Jewish poet really, she was born in Ukraine, 1917. Part of the Russian empire, her family spoke Russian. She didn\u2019t know any Yiddish. But, she loved Polish poetry and her friends spoke Polish. She decided that she wanted to be a Polish poet.\nHer parents really abandoned her, she was raised by her grandmother. And when she was 18, she moved to Warsaw. There, she was taken up by Tuwim, the most important inter war Polish poet and the leader of Skamander.... She published only one book, it\u2019s quite remarkable, it\u2019s called On Centaurs. The metaphor of the centaur, which she takes from male poets and repositions it from a feminist perspective, is really half body half spirit. Half animal, half spiritual person. She was amazingly skillful as a poet and it\u2019s very difficult for translators to capture her ability, especially her gift for rhyming which was admired by everyone. She was caught in the vice of being Jewish in Poland between the wars, and in the Nazi takeover she saw coming. She fled to Lviv, which was part of Poland. She went into hiding. her grandmother had given her everything from the family. And unfortunately for her, she was denounced by the concierge of the building who wanted her property and to get rid of her. She wrote her most famous poem in response, Non Omnis Moriar, based on a Horace poem.  \nThere\u2019s a famous Polish romantic poem called My Testament, (by Juliusz S\u0142owacki) which she basically rewrote in a very bitter way. After the war, the poem was used to convict the concierge and her son for turning her over to the Nazis and stealing her property. \nShe escaped for some time, no one knows exactly how, but she moved to Krak\u00f3w and went into hiding. She was eventually caught by the Nazis. She was arrested, no one knows exactly how she was killed, but there\u2019s a consensus that she was shot and murdered in 1944. She was very young, but she had written all these poems, not just the poems that survived. And her legend lived on. Polish poets have always known how good she was, and now she\u2019s finally having her day. Her life was short but her poems are permanent.\u201d\nThe video about Zuzanna Ginczanka from POLISH POETRY UNITES video series was realized with additional support from the Taube Philanthropies and following partners: The New York Review of Books, New York Women in Film &amp; Television and Museum of Literature [Muzeum Literatury] in Warsaw, Poland.\nWyja\u015bnienie na marginesieby Zuzanna Ginczanka\nNie powsta\u0142amz prochu,nie obr\u00f3c\u0119 si\u0119w proch.Nie zst\u0105pi\u0142amz niebai nie wr\u00f3c\u0119 do nieba.Jestem sama niebemtak jak szklisty strop.Jestem sama ziemi\u0105tak jak rodna gleba.Nie uciek\u0142amznik\u0105di nie wr\u00f3c\u0119tam.Opr\u00f3cz samej siebie nie znam innej dali.W wzd\u0119tym p\u0142ucu wiatrui w zwapnieniu ska\u0142musz\u0119siebietutajrozproszon\u0105znale\u017a\u0107.\n(wiersz z tomu Zuzanna Ginczanka, \u201eO centaurach\u201d, Warszawa 1936)\nExplanation in the Margin                                        by Zuzanna Giczanka                                      Translated from the Polish by  Alissa Valles                \nI did not risefrom dust,I will not turnto dust.I did not descendfrom heavenand I won\u2019t returnto heaven.I myself am heaven,like a glass vault.I myself am earth,like fertile clay.I haven\u2019t fledfrom anywherenor will I returnthere.I know no remove but myself.In the wind\u2019s swelling lungand in calcifying rockI mustfind myselfas I amscatteredhere.\n (from \u201cFirebird\u201d published by the New York Review of Books, 2023)\nZuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s ID photo, 1938; photo: Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature, Warsaw\nZuzanna Ginczanka (1917\u20131945) was a Polish-Jewish poet and satirist. Born in Kyiv, Ginczanka was raised in Rowne, where her parents settled after fleeing from the Russian Civil War. Ginczanka was highly active in the Skamander poetic group, and her writing for Szpilki and Skamander magazines earned her a reputation as one of the most talented poets of the interwar period.  In 1936, Ginczanka published her only volume of poetry, O Centaurach (About Centaurs). In 1945, Ginczanka was arrested and executed in Krakow, shortly before the end of World War II. Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s last poem, \u201cNon omnis moriar...\" (\u201cNot all of me shall die\u201d), written shortly before her execution by the Nazis in the last months of World War II, is one of the most famous and unsettling texts in modern East European literature: a fiercely ironic last will and testament that names the person who betrayed her to the occupying authorities as a Jew, it exposes the hypocrisy at the heart of Polish nationalist myths. Ginczanka\u2019s linguistic exuberance and invention\u2014reminiscent now of Marina Tsvetaeva, now of Marianne Moore or Mina Loy\u2014are as exhilarating as the passionate fusion of the physical world and the world of ideas she advocated in her work. Firebird brings together many of Ginczanka\u2019s uncollected poems and presents On Centaurs, her sole published book, in its entirety. \nBiography source: the NYRB\nMore about Zuzanna Ginczanka\nOn Centaurs &amp; Other Poems (Poems by Zuzanna Ginczanka Translated from the Polish by Alex Braslavsky)\nfrom: About Centaurs by Zuzanna Ginczanka\nPoetry Poised to Take Flight: Zuzanna Ginczanka\u2019s On Centaurs and Other Poems\nForceful in Fury, Forceful in Beauty: An Interview with Alex Braslavsky on Translating Zuzanna Ginczanka\nZuzanna Ginczanka\nZuzanna Ginczanka Biographical Note\nZuzanna Ginczanka \/ Poetry Foundation\nNot Everything Dies \/ Poetry Foundation\nGINCZANKA \u2013 POET, PRISM, PROPHET\nSOMETHING OR OTHER: THE PORTRAIT OF ZUZANNA GINCZANKA \n(Non-)Presence: Capturing Zuzanna Ginczanka \nZuzanna Ginczanka's Beauty &amp; Brand\nInvoking Zuzanna Ginczanka: Translation in a Time of Love &amp; War\nZuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness is Real Life Exhibition in Lviv\nZuzanna Ginczanka. Only Happiness Is Real Life Exhibition in Warsaw and Krak\u00f3w\nThe Crash of Silence on Silence: Polish Poetry &amp; the Holocaust\nThe Holocaust in Polish Literature: 7 Key Books\nModerator: Edward HirschWriter and Director: Ewa Zadrzy\u0144skaCinematography: Jacek Mieros\u0142awskiEditor: Anna J\u0119drzejewskaCurator and Executive Producer: Bartek Remisko\nEdward Hirsch is an American poet and critic who wrote a national bestseller about reading poetry entitled How to Read A Poem And Fall In Love With Poetry published in 2014. He has published nine books of poems, including The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems (2010) and Gabriel: A Poem (2014), a book-length elegy for his son that The New Yorker called \u201ca masterpiece of sorrow.\u201d He has also published five prose books about poetry.  His latest book of essays, 100 Poems to Break your Heart was published in 2021.  He is president of the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City. Currently he is finishing a book of essays called The Heart of American Poetry. It will be published in April to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Library of America. The book consists of deeply personal readings of forty essential American poems. It rethinks the American tradition in poetry.  Ed Hirsch lives in New York City.\nLead image: Zuzanna Ginczanka, 1938, fot. Muzeum Literatury \/ East News"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2023\/12\/na-balkonie-ginczanka_z_portret_1_east_news_.jpg","width":1000,"height":642},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/2023\/12\/11\/zuzanna-ginczanka-the-poetess-between-fear-and-hope\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Zuzanna Ginczanka, the Poetess between fear and hope"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/","name":"Instytut Polski w Nowym Jorku","description":"Instytuty Polskie","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"pl-PL"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5398162e9037f8449cc495b4e42c4559","name":"steczkowskam","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"pl-PL","@id":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4835f40fc2ea5dbb79117d9759d63b2a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4835f40fc2ea5dbb79117d9759d63b2a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"steczkowskam"},"url":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/author\/steczkowskam\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/165"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9718"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15068,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9718\/revisions\/15068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/instytutpolski.pl\/newyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}