Maria Krych
This is me, Maria Krych. The picture must have been taken in the 1960s, when I stopped working for the Central Committee. I don’t know who took this photo.
In the 1960s I began translating Yiddish literature. It was like this: a friend, a Jew lived next door, and she was assigned to translate ‘Historia Bundu’ – ‘The History of Bund’. Together we translated three volumes. It was a collective work written by members of Bund. I did this still during my work for the KC. I was earning extra money this way, because I wanted to buy a second apartment.
Somehow we finished that translating job. Later, in the 1960s, I left the KC. And when we finished ‘The History of Bund’ I wrote to an editor of Dolnoslaskie Publishing House, asking if I could do some translating for them. I had to send him a sample of my work. He agreed and I started working for them.
I translated ‘Di mishpoche Karnovski’[‘The Karnowski Family’] by Israel Singer and later a few books written during the uprising in the ghetto, including works by Cywia Lubetkin, ‘Zaglada i Powstanie’ [‘Extermination and Uprising’], and Elie Wiesel.
After some time the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw asked me to translate ‘Di Brider Ashkenazi’ [‘The Brothers Ashkenazi,’ a novel by I. J. Singer, considered to be his greatest work]. That was a rather big book. I translated it and they published it. Israel Joshua Singer – that’s definitely my favorite author. Not Isaac Singer, but his brother. He is closer to me, since he deals with social issues.
For example, his book ‘Towarzysz Nachman’ [‘Towarzysz Nachman’ is the title of the Polish translation, the book is known to the English reader as ‘East of Eden,’ original Yiddish title: ‘Khaver Nakhman’]. That’s a novel, a large novel. He, sometime in the 1930s, predicted what would happen – what would happen to communism, he predicted it all.
