Anna German

Anna German
Anna German in 'Ogród botaniczny w Brynku' in Brynek (Poland) in 1968
Background information
Birth name	Anna Yevgenyevna German (Russian: Анна Евгеньевна Герман)
Born	February 14, 1936 Urgench, Uzbekistan
Died	August 26, 1982(1982-08-26) (aged 46) Warsaw, Poland
Genres	sung poetry, torch song
Occupations	singer
Instruments	vocals
Years active	1960–1982

Anna Viktoria German (February 14, 1936 – August 26, 1982) was a popular Polish-Russian singer.

[edit] Biography

Anna German was born in Urgench, a city with a population of 22,000 in northwestern Uzbek SSR, USSR in Central Asia. Her mother, Irma Martens, was the descendent of Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites invited to Russia by Catherine II. Her father, Eugeniusz Hörmann, was an accountant of German descent, born in Łódź, Poland. In 1937 he was arrested by the NKVD in Urgench on charges of spying, and executed. Thereafter, Anna and her mother were deported to the Kyrgyz SSR.

In 1946 she and her mother, who married a Polish Army officer, settled in Nowa Ruda, before moving to Wrocław in 1949.

Anna graduated from the Geological Institute of Wroclaw University. During her university years, she began her music career at the Kalambur theater. Anna finally became successful when she won the 1964 II Festival of Polish Songs in Opole with her song Tańczące Eurydyki. One year later, she won first prize in the international song contest in Sopot. She was invited to perform in Italy in the prestigious Sanremo Music Festival in 1967. In Italy Anna German survived a bad car crash, and fully came back to the stage only in 1972, after a long rehabilitation period.

On 23 March 1972 she married Zbigniew Tucholski. Their son, Zbigniew, was born on 27 November 1975.

Anna performed in the Marché international de l'édition musicale in Cannes, as well as on the stages of Belgium, Germany, USA, Canada and Australia. In the last years of her life she composed some church songs. She died in 1982 from bone cancer, and was buried in Warsaw.

Anna German was immensely popular in Poland and in the Soviet Union. She released over a dozen music albums with songs in Polish, as well as several albums with Russian repertoire. She also sang in English, Italian, Spanish, Latin, and German. In 2001 six of her Polish albums were reissued on CDs. In recent years many compilation albums of her songs have also been released in both Russia and Poland.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Anna German grave in the Cemetery of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Warsaw

• Na tamten brzeg (1964)
• Tańczące Eurydyki (1965)
• Recital piosenek (1967)
• I classici della musica napoletana (1967)
• Człowieczy los (1970)
• Domenico Scarlatti - Arie z opery Tetida in Sciro (1971)
• Wiatr mieszka w dzikich topolach (1972)
• To chyba maj (1974)
• Anna German (1977)
• Anna German (1979)
• Pomysl o mnie (1979)
• Tylko w tangu/Dookola kipi lato (1979)
• Śpiewa Anna German (1979)
• Надежда (Nadezhda, 1980)
• Последняя встреча (Poslednyaya vstrecha, 1982)

[edit] Singles

• "The Man I Love" (1964)

[edit] Sources

• International Fan page
• Anna German at the Internet Movie Database
• Web-site Anna German
• Facebook page Anna German
• Anna German on YouTube