Elżbieta carpenter

Elżbieta Maria Zimmermann (born December 14, 1943 in Warsaw ; † November 14, 2007 in Dresden ; born Holtorp) was a Polish Germanist , patron of Polish art and culture and promoter of German-Polish reconciliation.

Live and act

Elżbieta Maria Holtorp was born during the German occupation of Warsaw. She grew up in Warsaw and for a short time in Berlin, where she passed the school leaving examination. From 1963 to 1967 she studied German at the University of Warsaw a . a. with Emil Adler and graduated with a master's thesis on "The image of man in the work of Heinrich Böll ".

The Germanist then worked for the GDR's cultural and information center, where she met the German composer Udo Zimmermann in 1969 , whom she married in 1970 and with whom she remained married until her death in 2007. In 1970 she moved to Dresden. From 1972 to 1982 she worked as a lecturer for the Polish language at the Volkshochschule Dresden. Since she saw her Polish language lessons not only as a language mediation, but above all as a mediation of Polish culture and as an opportunity to build new bridges between Poles and Germans, after martial law was declared in Poland in 1981 by the GDR authorities , she was given the opportunity to practice as a lecturer forbids anything that led her to withdraw from her professional life and to organize meetings with people interested in language and culture in private.

In 1988, at her instigation, the “Friends of Polish Language and Culture” came into being in Dresden. This establishment was approved by the GDR authorities after a “Friends of French Language and Culture” had previously been established in Dresden, on the condition that the “Friends of Polish Language and Culture” be integrated into the GDR's cultural association . Under the leadership of Elżbieta Zimmermann, the Circle of Friends organized meetings and program evenings with Polish artists, e. B. the film directors Radosław Piwowarski or Krzysztof Zanussi , actors and musicians.

On January 15, 1992, the German-Polish Society of Saxony - Society for Saxon-Polish Cooperation eV was founded in the Kraszewski Museum in Dresden , whose founding president was Elżbieta Zimmermann. The society developed into an essential promoter of German-Polish reconciliation in Saxony and organized study trips, cultural exchange and support programs and was involved in German-Polish youth exchanges. Elżbieta Zimmermann was also personally involved in German-Polish reconciliation and projects dedicated to the special features of Saxon-Polish history. a. for the preservation of the Jakob Böhme House in Zgorzelec . In 1994 she co-founded the Polish association “ Euroopera ”, which was based in the Jakob-Böhme-Haus.

In 1997 Elżbieta Zimmermann was involved in the creation of the international exhibition “Under a Crown” on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the personal union of Saxony-Poland as a member of the international working committee; conceived and curated, among other things, the exhibition "The Architecture of Warsaw in the Saxon Era and its Future Fate", which, conceived as a photographic traveling exhibition, took place from 1997 to 1999 in Dresden, Görlitz, Berlin, Leipzig and in September 1999 on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of Germany's attack on Poland , was shown in Warsaw's Ujazdowski Castle .

In 2001 the German-Polish Society of Saxony eV was awarded the German-Polish Prize of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Poland for its work. In the same year Elżbieta Zimmermann resigned from her position as President of the German-Polish Society because she and her husband moved their center of life and work to Berlin. In the same year, the German-Polish Society of Saxony appointed Zimmermann honorary president because of her services to the society. In Berlin, Elżbieta Zimmermann opened the “Wohngalerie Elzbieta Zimmermann” in her Wilmersdorfer apartment on Nassauische Strasse, which was dedicated to Polish contemporary art and in 2002 showed the exhibition “MEBLARIUM 1” with works by the sculptor, architect and designer Paweł Grunert .

Grave of Elżbieta Zimmermann with German and Polish inscriptions.

From mid-2003 Elżbieta Zimmermann's health deteriorated, which led her to give up the gallery in Berlin and to give up other offices and functions. In May 2004 she fell ill with cancer. On December 14, 2006, she erected a memorial in the military cemetery in Neuburxdorf, Brandenburg, in honor of her grandfather, Polish medical officer Wilhelm Borkowski, who died in Stalag IV B Mühlberg / Elbe on December 14, 1941. She passed away on November 14, 2007.

Elżbieta Zimmermann was buried on November 19, 2007 in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Dresden. On November 23, 2007, a requiem by Bishop Joachim Reinelt was celebrated for them in the Dresden Cathedral Sanctissimae Trinitatis ( Catholic Court Church ) .

The sons Robert and Romeo Alexander came from the marriage with Udo Zimmermann .

Honors

• 1997 - Honorary Diploma of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland for Outstanding Services to Polish Culture in the World
• 2000 - Medal of Honor of the City of Zgorzelec
• 2001 - Appointment as Honorary President of the German-Polish Society of Saxony
• 2002 - Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta of the Republic of Poland

Obituaries

• Peter Zacher: Lived German-Polish reconciliation - an obituary , in Sächsische Zeitung , November 19, 2007
• Obituary in Ifodienst "Spotkanie" of the German-Polish Society Berlin e. V. December 2007, p. 8

Web links

• PersonenWiki of the Saxon State and University Library . Retrieved December 3, 2013
• Entry in the Polish personal database . Retrieved December 3, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ^ Maria Diersch: "Foundation and work of the German-Polish Society of Saxony eV", 1992 - Digital library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. Retrieved December 3, 2013
2. ^ Website of the DPG Sachsen eV . Retrieved December 3, 2013
3. ↑ About the Jakob Böhme House - Zgorzelec tourist information website. Retrieved December 3, 2013
4. ↑ PersonenWiki of the Saxon State and University Library ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 3, 2013  
5. ^ Website of the Polish Association “Euroopera” (Polish) . ( Memento of the original from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 3, 2013 
6. ↑ Werner Schmidt (Ed.), Dirk Syndram : "Under a Crown: Art and Culture of the Saxon-Polish Union", Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1997, ISBN 3-361-00476-4 , p. 14
7. ↑ PersonenWiki of the Saxon State and University Library ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 3, 2013  
8. ^ Foreword by curator Elżbieta Zimmermann on the Warsaw exhibition (Polish) - website of the Center for Contemporary Art, Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw. Retrieved December 3, 2013
9. ^ The German-Polish Prize - website of the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. Retrieved December 3, 2013.
10. ↑ Exhibitions Pawel Grunert - website of the online art house ARTNET.DE. Retrieved December 3, 2013
11. ↑ Bettina Broneske: Elzbieta Zimmermann puts a memorial to her grandfather , in Lausitzer Rundschau online, December 16, 2006. Retrieved on December 3, 2013
12. ^ Advertisement in "Der Tagesspiegel", Berlin, November 18, 2007
13. ^ Fritz Hennenberg : Udo Zimmermann. Bouvier-Verlag, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-416-02384-6 , p. 11f.