Erna Rosenstein

Erna Rosenstein (17 May 1913 – 10 November 2004) was a surrealist painter and poet.

Biography

Erna Rosenstein

She was the daughter of an Austrian-Jewish judge and Ukrainian mom. She was born in the town of Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, now Львів in Ukraine.

In 1918 they moved to Kraków. In November 1918 Poland regained its independence as the Second Polish Republic. Her father wanted her to take up in the family business of law. She however studied at Wiener Frauenakademie (1932–1934) and Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków (1934–1936).

She was a Communist and belonged to a group of artists known as the Kraków Group, which she had met at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Her works were evoked by her experiences as a Jew in Nazi-occupied Poland. She and her parents went to Warsaw, but her parents were murdered by a Polish bandit, while they were trying to find a safe place. She was severely wounded in the attack, but survived.

Erna Rosenstein, Eternity Gives Birth to the Moment

After the war she was confronted with the reality of Communism. Having idealized it earlier, she ran into conflict with it. In later life Rosenstein published a book of her memoirs and several volumes of poetry.

Rosenstein's brother, the Austrian professor Paul N. Rosenstein-Rodan went on to become a Boston University professor and economist. He coined the term "underdeveloped countries". She was married to Polish-Jewish literary critic Artur Sandauer.

She died of arterial sclerosis in 2004.

External links

Media related to Erna Rosenstein at Wikimedia Commons

• Erna Rosenstein Bio
• Obituary from the Los Angeles Times