Hanna Krall

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Hanna Krall (born 1937 in Warsaw) is a Polish writer.

[edit] Her childhood

Krall is of Jewish origin. During World War II she lost some of her close relatives. Only because she was hidden from the Nazis, she survived the war.

Hanna Krall as a journalist

After Krall finished her studies in journalism, she started working for the Polish local paper "Życie Warszawy" ("Warsaw's Life") in 1955.
In 1966 she left the paper and began to write for the well known magazine "Polityka" ("Politics"). Shortly after Wojciech Jaruzelski, then Prime Minister of the former Peoples Republic of Poland, declared martial law, Krall left "Polityka" and wrote articles for the "Gazeta Wyborcza" some time later.

[edit] Krall as an author

During her time working for "Polityka", she published her first book named "Na wschód od Arbatu" ("Heading east from Arbat") in 1972, which was written after she spent several years as a correspondent in Moscow. The book dealt with day-to-day live in Moscow during the 60ties.
Commercial success came with the publication of "Zdążyć przed Panem Bogiem" (engl. title: "Shielding the Flame"). The book is about a Polish Jewish cardiologist and social activist, Marek Edelman, who was one of the founders of Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (Jewish fighting organization) and who took over its leadership after the head-commander Mordechai Anielewicz] had perished. Edelman is the only living leader of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. "Shielding the flame" can be seen as a model for most of Krall's works. Krall describes the relations between Jews, Poles and Germans during the Holocaust and the years thereafter.
Apart from this main point in her writing, Krall also reflects about the search for her own identity, as can be seen very clearly in "Dowody na istnienie" ("Evidence for Existence"). Another theme in her book is the often complicated destiny of the Polish people in history and the influence of the past on peoples life's in the present.