Poems

In addition to carving miniatures, Zofia Pociłowska wrote several poems in the camp. Poetry and sculpture are always in direct dialog with one another, and they are two forms of artistic expression that are mutually dependent in places.

A total of five poems were chosen for the exhibition. Three of them—Nightmares, In the Night and Memory—were written in the camp. Zofia Pociłowska wrote Portrait of the Father and Forest Angel after 1945. The words of the lyrical ‘I’ are not directed at specific people, but they feel intimate nonetheless. The poems written after 1945 exhibit linguistic parallels to her organic-seeming sculptural works and support the parallel viewing of her textual and visual compositions.

Joy von Wienskowski, Gender Studies student

Audio versions of the five poems recited in German by Brigitte Reidinger are available on the german website of Ravensbrück Memorial.

You can hear the poems recited in Polish by the artist’s granddaughter Weronika Kann