Anna Elżbieta Myszyńska (); ; 30 June 1931 – 30 September 2019) was a Silesian writer, photographer, poet, translator and a promoter of

Silesian language Silesian, occasionally called Upper Silesian, is an ethnolect of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic group spoken by part of people in Upper Silesia. Its vocabulary was significantly influenced by Central German due to the existence of numerou ...

and tradition.

Life

Myszyńska was born in Kórnica,

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...

on 30 June 1931. She finished primary school in 1945. After the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she worked for several years on her parents' farm
Biografia – Anna Myszyńska
' and on a farm in Lipno,

Prudnik Prudnik (, , , ) is a town in southern Poland, located in the southern part of Opole Voivodeship near the border with the Czech Republic. It is the administrative seat of Prudnik County and Gmina Prudnik. Its population numbers 21,368 inhabitant ...

. She didn't attend school because she didn't know

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

, only Silesian. It was not until 1952 that she went to a nursing school in

Racibórz Racibórz (, , , ) is a city in Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland. It is the administrative seat of Racibórz County. With Opole, Racibórz is one of the historic capitals of Upper Silesia, being the residence of the Duchy of Racibórz, Du ...

, which she graduated as an autodidactist with honors, and got a job at a hospital in

Opole Opole (; ; ; ) is a city located in southern Poland on the Oder River and the historical capital of Upper Silesia. With a population of approximately 127,387 as of the 2021 census, it is the capital of Opole Voivodeship (province) and the seat of ...

. In 1957, she graduated from the State School of Midwives in Nysa. She moved to Biała. She took up photography thanks to her husband, Bogdan Myszyński, with whom she ran a photography studio. After retiring, she became a photojournalist for the "Panorama Bialska" newspaper. She took part in the Silesian dialect competition "Po naszymu, czyli po śląsku", organized by

Polish Radio Katowice Polish Radio Katowice () is the largest regional station of Polish Radio. It was created in 1927. It can be received in the Silesian Voivodeship Silesian Voivodeship ( ) is an administrative province in southern Poland. With over 4.2 million r ...

. She started writing short stories in Silesian "Jak to piyrwej było" for the newspaper, in which she recalled her childhood, youth, church holidays, old customs and rituals related to the seasons and work in the countryside, while comparing them to the present day. Due to the lack of a separate alphabet for Silesian back then, she wrote the text in the way she spoke and heard herself in

Polish alphabet The Polish alphabet ( Polish: , ) is the script of the Polish language, the basis for the Polish system of orthography. It is based on the Latin alphabet but includes certain letters (9) with diacritics: the stroke (acute accent or bar) ...

. In 1994, she received a proposal from Polish Radio Opole to cooperate in the program "Nasz Heimat" conducted by the editor Andrzej Russak for the German minority. She was the originator of the Silesian Language Competition in Prudnik. She collaborated with "Tygodnik Prudnicki", for which she translated into Polish the content of the novel ''

Summer of Dead Dreams ''Summer of Dead Dreams'' () is a novel by German writer Harry Thürk, published in 1993 by Mitteldeutscher Verlag. It is an autobiography with fictional elements. The book was translated to English, Polish (by Marcin Domino and Anna Myszyńska) ...

'' by

Harry Thürk Harry Thürk (8 March 1927 – 24 November 2005) was a German writer. Life In 1934, Thürk moved with his family to Prudnik, Neustadt. After attending trade school, he began to work for the German train system (Reichsbahn). After being drafted ...

. She also translated ''

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' into Silesian. She died on 7 September 2019 in the hospice in Nysa.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Myszynska, Anna 1931 births 2019 deaths People from Silesia People from Prudnik