Zywulska, Krystyna

Background: Polish Jewish family
Education: study of law
Profession/occupation: none because of war time.
Art form/medium: writing novels, drawing and painting.
Start artwork: after the war she started writing; since 1980 drawing and painting alongside her writing.
Relevant info: survivor of Auschwitz; has written several books on the Warsaw Ghetto.
(Solo-) exhibitions:
References: Van der Endt, Nico; Outsiders, Amsterdan (Gal. Hamer) 1999.

Krystyna Zywulska was born in 1918, Lodz, Poland, and died in 1992, Düsseldorf, Germany. She studied law in Warsaw until the beginning of the war. She was locked up in the Warsaw Ghetto from 1939 until she managed to escape in 1942. The young student joined the resistance and was arrested in 1943. She was sentenced to death, was transferred to Auschwitz three months later. After the war she became an author and attracted international attention with her books on the Warsaw Ghetto and her experiences in Auschwitz. She moved to Germany in 1969. In 1980 she started drawing and painting alongside her writing. Whereas her literature dealt with real-life situations, her visual art was a spontaneous outlet for her rich fantasy.

Krystyna Zywulska
1918 Lodz, Poland - 1992 Dusseldorf, Germany