Teresa Ferenc


Teresa Ferenc was a Polish poet.
WWW pisarze.pl/poezja/158-fer...

Life

Ferenc was born in Ruszów-Kolonia in the administrative district of Gmina Łabunie, within Zamość County in Lublin Voivodeship in Poland on 27 April 1934. She lived with her parents and family in the village of Sochy, Lublin Voivodeship in the Zamość region. During World War II, as a 9-year-old child, she survived the massacre of the village of Sochy by Nazi Germany on 1 June 1943 during German occupation of Poland. Her parents were murdered then. The village was also bombed by German Luftwaffe planes. As an orphan, she was raised by relatives and in orphanages. After graduating from Teacher's College, she taught at the Lyceum in Rybnik. In 1956 she married the poet Zbigniew Jankowski. She raised two daughters, also a poet: Anna Janko and Milena Wieczorek.
As a poet Ferenc debuted in 1958. Her first published book of poems was Moje ryżowe poletko in 1964. Her works have appeared in dozens of anthologies and other collective publications in Poland and abroad. She also published books with poems for children. Together with her husband Zbigniew Jankowski, she founded the poetic group "Reda". In 2004 and 2009 she was the laureate of the President of the City of Gdańsk Award in the Field of Culture.
She was a member of the PEN Club and a founding member of the Polish Writers' Association. The poet publishes, among others in Twórczość, Odra (magazine), Topos.
In 2016, Ferenc with her husband Zbigniew Jankowski was awarded the silver "Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis".

Teresa Ferenc in film and books

Dramatic events in the life of Ferenc, when she survived as a 9-year-old child, the Sochy massacre by the German occupiers on 1 June 1943, in which she lost both parents – were described in a book titled Mała Zagłada written by her daughter, poet Anna Janko.
The book Mała Zagłada by Anna Janko became the canvas for the creation of the film Natalia Koryncka-Gruz entitled "A Minor Genocide". The film reminds of the tragic fate of Ferenc and the inhabitants of the village of Sochy in the Zamość region, victims of the massacre. The consequences of war and war crimes in subsequent generations, families of victims of genocide are also shown.

Selected works

Moje ryżowe poletko,Zalążnia,Godność natury,Ciało i płomień,Małżeństwo,Poezje wybrane i nowe,Wypalona dolina,Poezje wybrane,Pieta,Najbliższa ojczyzna,Grzeszny pacierz .Drzewo dziwo,Nóż za ptakiem,Kradzione w raju,Wybór wierszy ''Swallowing Paradise. Poems.,Wiersze,Boże pole,Psalmy i inne wiersze dawne i nowe,Dzieci wody,Stara jak świat,Ogniopis. Wybór wierszy,Widok na życie Wiersze. Wybor''

Characteristics of creativity

In her poetry, Ferenc touches on topics related to love, corporeality and motherhood. In her poetry she also often returns to the tragedy of her childhood – in 1943, as a nine-year-old child, she witnessed how almost all residents were shot by the Germans; the village itself was then bombed and burned.
Ferenc wrote in the poem Wieś skamieniała about the Sochy massacre, which she survived in her childhood:
"1 June 1943 on the edge of the Zwierzyniec forests
my village was shot.
Sochy – like in Oradour in France,
Sochy – like in Lidice in Czech Republic,
Sochy – like in Mezzinote in Italy."

Selected awards and nominations

  • 1979 – Nagroda im. Stanisława Piętaka za tom poezji Wypalona dolina
  • 1997 – wyróżnienie przyznane przez Fundację Kultury za Boże pole
  • 1997 – nagroda Media Książce za Boże pole
  • 2004 – Nagroda Artusa 2004 za zbiór Stara jak świat
  • 2004 – nagroda Media Książce za rok 2004, za zbiór Stara jak świat
  • 2013 – finał Nagrody Poetyckiej Orfeusz za tom Widok na życie
  • 2016 – silver Medal for Merit to Culture – Gloria Artis