Franciszka Arnsztajnowa

Franciszka Arnsztajnowa was a Polish poet, playwright, and translator of Jewish descent. She was born in Lublin, Poland, to a wealthy and cultured family. Her mother was a novelist and her brother was a philosopher. She studied natural sciences in Germany and traveled extensively in Europe. She married Marek Arnsztein, a physician and social activist, and had two children. She debuted as a poet in 1888 and published several collections of poems, mostly in the neo-romantic and modernist style. She also wrote plays and translated works from English, French, and German. She was a prominent figure in the literary and cultural life of Lublin and Warsaw, and co-founded the Lublin Association of Writers with Józef Czechowicz. She was also involved in various social and patriotic causes, especially during the First World War. She moved to Warsaw in 1934, after the death of her son. She was killed in the Holocaust, most likely in the Treblinka extermination camp, in 1942. Her exact date and place of death are unknown. She is regarded as one of the most important Polish poets of the Young Poland period and the interwar period. She is also called "the legend of Lublin".