Franciszka Arnsztajnowa

A Polish-language poet, dramaturge, and translator of English writers like Rudyard Kipling and W. Somerset Maugham, Franciszka Arnsztajnowa was born Franciszka Hanna Meyerson in Lublin to Malwina and Ber Meyerson, a Polish novelist and financier, respectively. Raised in a Polish-language milieu marked by a strong commitment to Polish national sensibility and culture, she was educated at the Lublin gymnasium for women. After high school, she moved to Germany to study biology and met Marek Arensztajn, a physician whom she would soon marry. They returned to Lublin, where Franciszka cofounded the Lublin Writers Association, and in 1895 published her first collection of poems, Poezje (Poetry). She also wrote plays, essays, and stories, often under pen names, including F.A.M. and Jan Górecki. Arnsztajnowa was also active in the women’s suffrage movement. In 1936, Arnsztajnowa was honored with the Polish Academy of Literature’s silver laurel. She was murdered by the Nazis, most likely in Treblinka.