Halina Górska (14 May 1898 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

– 4 June 1942 in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

) was a Polish writer and a communist activist.

Biography

Halina Endelman was the daughter of Zygmund and Czeslawa Endelman. She married Marian Gorski. They had one child born in 1924. She also had a granddaughter, who was born, long after she died Beginning in 1924 Górska became associated with the Lwów literary scene. Her first publication, in 1925, was "Mam mieszkanie" (''I have an apartment''), in the ''Kurier Lwowski''. In 1930 she published the fairy tale "O księciu Gotfrydzie, Rycerzu Gwiazdy Wigilijnej" (''About Prince Gotfried, Knight of the Christmas Star''). For many years she worked for the Lwów radio station, as a host of a special program for young adults. On her initiative, in 1931, the "Związek Błękitnych" (Blue Organization) was created, whose purpose was

philanthropic Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

activity. In 1933, together with

Tadeusz Hollender Tadeusz Hollender (30 May 1910 – 31 May 1943) was a Polish poet, translator and humorist. During World War II, he wrote satirical articles and poems in underground press, for that he was arrested by the German Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic ...

and Karol Kuryluk she started the social-cultural monthly "Sygnały" (''Signals''). She also participated in many social movements associated with the

socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...

. After Lwów was occupied by the

Soviets The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...

she took up active collaboration with the communist authorities, naively believing in the truth of their slogans. However, she was the only one who abstained during voting on the incorporation of the Western Ukraine into the Soviet Union. She wrote for the magazine "Nowe Widnokręgi" (''New Horizons''), which published fragments of her novels. She also translated Gorky's "Mat’" (The Mother) into Polish. In 1941 she never left Lwow. In the June 1942 she was arrested by the Nazis and executed.

References

1898 births 1942 deaths Jewish Polish writers Polish Jews who died in the Holocaust Writers from Warsaw {{Poland-writer-stub