“When the gardens were blooming”, “White bird cherry”, “Hope”. This Polish singer with a soaring voice was adored by millions - in the 1960s and 1970s, Anna German was one of the most popular performers. And few of the fans knew that this beautiful artist was singing while standing in iron shackles built into her shoes...
biographer, a friend of the singer’s family, Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky talks about Anna German . For many years he has been collecting unknown facts, rare photographs, and letters from Anna to friends.
I didn't remember my father
— Several years ago I flew to Uzbekistan, where Anna German was born. In the 1930s, the town of Urgench on the border with Turkmenistan became a haven for a young family - teacher Irma Martens and accountant Evgeniy German . On February 14, 1936, their daughter, Anechka Martens, was born. The mother was not officially married to the girl’s father. Therefore, Anya was recorded as Martens - after the surname of her mother and grandmother.
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"Fate will not mock you." Life in spite of and eternal struggle of Anna German
Their life was not easy, because in the “nationality” column they listed “Germans”. Anechka did not remember her father; he was arrested in 1937 on a false denunciation of espionage and given “10 years without the right to correspondence.” Only in the 1950s was it possible to find out: Evgeniy German was shot in Tashkent in 1937.
Women survived the war in Kyrgyzstan, in the village of Orlovka. Military childhood is a difficult childhood: hunger, illness, poverty. Even in winter, Anechka went to school in “schleras” - rag wrappings that at least somehow protected her feet from the snow.
In 1946, Anna’s mother, through incredible tricks, was able to transport her loved ones to Poland. This country became her second home. Although her talent was not fully appreciated there, her popularity was treated more than coolly. Herman's first public appearance ended in complete failure. In Krakow, she was asked to sing at some student evening. On stage, when she saw the audience, her memory failed - the lyrics of the song were erased to a single word. In tears, she ran backstage and promised herself never to go on stage again.
Anna even collected documents for admission to the art academy. But then Irma’s mother, whom her daughter had been afraid of all her life, said her weighty word: “You can’t make a living by drawing.” As a result, the girl entered the University of Wroclaw and received a master's degree in geology. But by the time she finished her studies, the whole of Wroclaw already knew about her extraordinary voice.
Anna Herman at the time of meeting Zbyshek, 60s. Photo: From personal archive/ Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky
short biography
The life story of the singer, beloved by many, is almost thoroughly known. Interesting facts about Anna's life development have been studied by many professional chroniclers. Thanks to their work, we have the opportunity to get acquainted with her biography.
Childhood and youth
Anna German was born on February 14, 1936 in the city of Urgench, Uzbek SSR. Her mother Irma is from Stavropol, and her father Eugen Hörmann is an ethnic German. In 1937, the head of the family was suspected of espionage and sentenced to “10 years without the right to correspondence.” And two years later they shot me. In 1957, Eugen Hörmann will be rehabilitated posthumously.
After the repression of the father, mother and daughter lived briefly in Siberia and the republics of Central Asia. In 1942, while still attractive, Irma got married again. Anna's stepfather was the Polish officer Herman Berner. A year later he disappeared in the war. Only a few years later it became known about his death.
An official marriage with a Pole made it possible for Irma and her daughter to move to Poland. This happened in '46. Since 1949, the family settled in the city of Wroclaw, where the mother received a position as a teacher of German speech at the Agricultural Academy. Anna studied at a general education lyceum. After completing secondary education, the girl became a student at the Faculty of Geology at the University of Wroclaw, where she became interested in amateur artistic activities.
Start of performance on stage
Participation in student art allowed Anna to discover her talent as a singer. His debut appearance on stage was a performance at the academic theater Kalambur (1960). She was noticed, and as an encouragement, the promising singer was given a scholarship from the Italian municipality and an invitation to visit Rome to practice. Anna went to Italy for several months.
After returning from Rome, actor and part-time director Julian Krzywka offered Herman a place in his troupe. As a result, Anna was able to become a participant in the III International Music Festival, held in the coastal city of Sopot. As a result, the aspiring Polish singer took the prize.
A little later, at the State Festival of Pop Musicians in Olsztyn, Herman took the second award for her performance of the Italian song “Ave Maria”. The young singer Anna German earned universal recognition in 1964. The event took place at the II Festival of Polish Song in Opole. The song called “Dancing Eurydice” brought popularity.
Tragedy in Italy
It was impossible to make decent money in Poland, and Anna set off to conquer Italy. My career was developing, but up to a certain point. On the night of August 27, 1967, Herman and her agent Renato Serio traveled from Forlì to Milan in a sports car. On the way, the driver lost his vigilance and fell asleep. The car crashed into a concrete road barrier at a decent speed. The impact threw the passenger through the windshield into the roadside bushes.
An ambulance that arrived in the morning found the driver with broken bones and evacuated him. No one knew that there was a passenger in the car. Having learned about Anna, a second car of doctors headed to the scene of the accident, where, after a search, an unconscious body was discovered. In total, the singer suffered 49 bone fractures, including a double fracture of the spine. There were also multiple soft tissue injuries. Herman was in a coma for more than a week.
According to the preliminary forecasts of the medical commission, one could forget about a further singing career. In addition, no one believed that after such spinal injuries it was even possible to stand on one’s feet. But after many months, Anna German not only began to walk on her own, but also learned to breathe again and began to sing again.
Return to the stage
Having recovered from the car accident, Herman returned to the stage. The event took place in 1970. The singer was scheduled to perform at a festive concert dedicated to the day of the liberation of Warsaw. After entering the stage, the audience gave a standing ovation for 20 minutes. In response, she performed the first song “Human Destiny”, her written song, with lyrics by Alina Novak. And in 1971, German recorded one of the most popular songs, “Nadezhda,” written by Alexandra Pakhmutova.
Since 1972, large-scale concert tours began. The singer performed in Poland and in the republics of the USSR. As its popularity on television increased, two times in 1.5 years, they released a special music program “Anna German Sings.”
In 1975, the singer had to take a short break from her career because she had a child. But then she began to tour again and often visited Moscow. There were a lot of evenings of meetings with Soviet pop celebrities - Alla Pugacheva, Lev Leshchenko and Roza Rymbaeva.
Song Performance Awards
The style of song performance from Anna German had distinctive features, among which sincerity and melody were combined with great warmth. In the period from 1970 to 1980, Herman was at the peak of her popularity in the Union. The Melodiya recording company has released many personalized records with songs by Anna German. The first of them came out in 1965 and turned into a philophonic relic. For her creative work, the singer was awarded many awards, including:
- main prize of the III Festival of Polish Song in Opole (1964);
- main prize of the V International Song Festival in Sopot (1964);
- "Marble Record" of the International Record Fair "MIDEM" (1966);
- prize “Oscar della simpatia” at the XV Neapolitan Song Festival (1967);
- insignia “Golden Cross of Merit” (1974);
- Order of the Renaissance of Poland with a knight's cross (1979).
The Poles are still jealous of the memory of Anna German, and cannot forgive her for the fact that she performed the best songs in Russian. Despite all her popularity among the population of the USSR, Soviet officials tried not to notice the Polish singer, despite her rich musical heritage. As a result, German has nothing from Soviet culture.
Since 2002, the annual Anna German International Music Festival “Dancing Eurydice” has been held in Poland. In Kazakhstan, in the singer’s hometown of Urgench, one of the central streets is named in her honor.
We offer you to watch a video clip of Anna German, where she performs the song that made her popular - “Dancing Evrediki”.
"I'm a broken doll"
Having a spectacular appearance, due to her reserved nature, Anna avoided noisy companies. The only one who was able to break through to her heart was the Polish engineer Zbigniew Tucholsky , whom Anna, while still a student, met... in the pool. “It was a business trip to Wroclaw,” Tucholsky said about the beginning of their relationship. — I decided to pass the time before the train and went for a swim in the open city pool. He stacked his things right at the edge of the pool. I took a closer look at who I could ask to guard them. This is where I first saw this girl. She spread a blanket nearby and began to read. From a conversation with her, I learned that she is a student of geology and an artist of the student theater “Pun”. Anya invited me to a concert... I returned home to Warsaw not myself. I thought about her all the way and planned how to organize the next meeting.”
From the moment Anna and Zbigniew met - she affectionately called him Zbyszek - until their wedding, 12 long years passed. Together they had to endure a terrible tragedy that divided Herman’s life into “before and after”
Anna German as a captain in the musical film Sea Adventures, 1966 Photo: From personal archive/Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky
...1960s. She is 31. Career at its peak - Anna became the first Polish singer to take part in the Sanremo festival. But the Italian producer saved on everything. He sent her to one of Anna’s first solo concerts in Italy with 26-year-old Renato Serio , who was both driver and accompanist. There, at the end of August 1967, Herman was in a terrible car accident. After a concert in the town of Forlì, the singer begged the attendant: she needed to rest. But Serio (who, by the way, is still alive) insisted: “Money has not been allocated for a hotel room in Forli. We need to return to Milan." But Renato fell asleep at the wheel. Their Fiat sports car flew off the highway, crashing through a guardrail. The shock wave carried the passenger 20 m from the car, right onto a pile of stones. The next morning, the Italian press was full of articles about the accident. The driver escaped with minor bruises. And Anna was reassembled literally piece by piece. Multiple fractures - no one can say the exact number now, ruptures of internal organs. Her husband said: “What saved her was that her spine remained intact, otherwise she would not have pulled out and returned to the stage. It saved her." Having seen her x-ray, Anna will write in a letter to her friend Kachalina : “After Italy, my insides look like a worn-out shoe.” In one of her letters later, she calls herself a broken doll. Numerous internal bruises led to tumors and cancer.
Herman recalled: “One of my legs was in traction. The hand rested motionless on top of the blanket, even the slightest movement of the fingers caused acute pain. Thorough “welding” work was required. I was shackled in plaster from neck to toes. With tears I asked to take it off me. For five months I lay motionless on my back. The plaster pressed tightly against my chest, but the capacity of my lungs, developed by singing, is substantial. And I suffocated in this shell, lost consciousness, tossed about, could not sleep.”
Colleagues visited Anna German in the hospital during her rehabilitation. Photo: From personal archive/ Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky
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On February 14, 1936, the legendary singer, favorite of millions of listeners around the world, Anna German
. Her soulful and melodic voice left no one indifferent. But fate prepared for the singer not only the boundless love of the public, but also inhuman trials that she could not fully overcome. Today Anna German would have turned 80 years old.
Anna German is a favorite of several generations.
Anna Herman always called herself a Polish singer, but her ancestors belonged to the Dutch Mennonite family. The singer's great-great-grandfather, while in Ukraine, founded the village of Olgino not far from Berdyansk. After the onset of Soviet power in the country, the German family was dispossessed and subject to repression. After endless wanderings, they find themselves in Uzbekistan. It was there that Anna Victoria German was born on February 14, 1936. Ten years later, thanks to the fictitious marriage of the mother of the future singer with a Pole, they manage to move to Poland. Anna German's childhood and youth were spent in continuous attempts to survive. She was constantly working.
Anna German is a pop singer.
The beginning of her creative path can be called the 4th year of the Faculty of Geology, where the singer studied. Anna German's performance at the student festival was a little crumpled, but after that, the head of the student theater invited her to join them. Initially, the singer’s mother Irma Herman did not share Anna’s enthusiasm to connect her life with the stage, but her friend Janechka’s incredible faith in the singer’s talent helped Herman to be enrolled in the Wroclaw stage staff. After this, the group began countless tours around the provincial cities of Poland, participating in various festivals. Popularity gradually comes. In 1966, the singer entered into a contract with an Italian record company. All of Europe and the Soviet Union are already talking about Anna German. It would seem that fruitful work and the love of the audience will provide the singer with a brilliant future. But fate decided otherwise.
Anna German had an accident in 1967, which immobilized her for 2 years.
On August 27, 1967, after another performance, Anna German was returning to Milan at night. Unfortunately, its driver fell asleep at the wheel, and at high speed the car crashed into a concrete barrier. The blow was so strong that the singer was thrown through the windshield onto the rocks. The ambulance arrived at the scene only in the morning. And even then they only assisted the driver. While in the hospital, he asked about the fate of the passenger, and only after that did the doctors return to the scene of the accident and find the singer in a coma. Only two weeks later the singer regained consciousness. Anna German's condition was terrible: she had to spend many months in an orthopedic corset. Only two years later the singer was able to get back on her feet and perform in front of the audience. Fractures of the spine and both legs left their mark. During concerts, special high orthopedic plates were inserted into Anna German's shoes to support the singer's bones.
Anna Herman and her husband Zbigniew Tucholski.
In 1972, Anna Herman married engineer Zbigniew Tucholski, who had been caring for the woman all this time. Anna's pregnancy was very difficult, but, fortunately, the birth was successful. The couple had a son.
Anna German and Lev Leshchenko.
Since 1972, Anna German's career has taken off again. Listeners simply adored the singer’s soulful voice. Touring around the world, recording records, filming in films - one would already think that all the troubles and trials of the singer were over. Anna herself often said that after the tragedy she suffered, God would no longer mock her. But every year the singer’s popularity grew, and her health worsened: decreased immunity, fainting. She tried to be treated with folk remedies and stubbornly refused to go to the doctors.
Anna German in Italy.
In 1980, during a concert at Luzhniki in Moscow, the singer became ill. She is taken to the Sklifosovsky Institute, where Anna German is given a terrible diagnosis - sarcoma (cancer of the leg bones). Her left leg was three times the size of her right. The disease developed rapidly, the doctors were powerless. Husband German recalls that Anna’s pain was such that the ambulance did not have time to return to the hospital before it was called again. The legendary singer passed away on August 25, 1982.
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Learned to live again
Beloved Zbyszek and her mother Irma took Anna to Poland as soon as her transportation was possible. She flew home completely crippled. “My dear Anichka! — German wrote to her Moscow friend Anna Kachalina. — The hand doesn’t move. It will probably stay that way. It’s not very visible, but it’s bothering me to get dressed. So everything is fine, I just lost a lot of weight in these two months here. 66 kg is not enough for my 185 cm.”
Anna learned again almost every movement. I practiced squeezing my fingers. When I was able to hold a mop in my hand and wash a piece of the floor without outside help, it was a great happiness. In the evenings, Zbyszek carried Anna in his arms to a park not far from their house and taught her to walk.
March 1972, wedding of Anna Herman and Zbigniew, Zakopane. Photo: From personal archive/ Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky
In March 1972, Anna told Zbyszek: “We are going to a sanatorium in Zakopane. Please prepare all documents. I found out: there is a registry office there. We will sign there. But do not tell anyone!" Doctors forbade her to have children - she could die during childbirth. But Anna passionately wanted a child. And she achieved her goal: in November 1975, Zbyshek Jr. was born. For a whole year, the singer gave up touring and filming, completely devoting herself to raising her “little sparrow,” as she affectionately called her son. But after such injuries, motherhood was difficult for her...
Anna German with her son. Photo: From personal archive/ Ivan Ilyichev-Volkanovsky
Zbyszek was only 6 years old when Anna died. Cancer, bone sarcoma. She left very hard. According to the terms of the contract, she could not help but go on tour in Australia. In the fall of 1980, they became the last for the singer. The pain was such that Anna could not stand on stage. The contract was broken, Anna was sent on the first flight from Australia to Poland, where her wanderings around Warsaw hospitals began. She was only 46 years old when she passed away in the summer of 1982. But her songs are loved to this day - on March 7, a concert dedicated to the 85th anniversary of Anna German will be held in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, in which her hits will be performed by famous pop artists .
Tukholsky did not marry after the death of his beloved Anna. And he did everything possible to keep the house they bought together the way it was under Anna. Her personal belongings, concert dresses, photographs, sheet music, and bags of letters from Anya’s fans are kept there. To the question “What would you tell Anna if your meeting happened again?” Zbigniew replied: “No words will be needed. Just a glance was always enough for us.”
In 2003, Anna’s husband, son and mother came to Moscow - we opened a rowan alley named after Anna German on Nezhinskaya Street. Now this park hosts the Moscow festival-competition of Anna's songs - in May, during the blossoming time of the apple trees.
Very unpleasant things were written about Herman’s son in the Polish media. He refused to give Polish journalists an interview about Anna, and they took revenge: “Anna’s son Herman is autistic.” In fact, Zbigniew Iwarr Tucholski is a graduate of the University of Warsaw, Department of History and Library Science. Received a doctorate degree and defended his dissertation. He is now a researcher at the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. 45-year-old Zbigniew Jr. is very similar to his mother, including in height. Anna German was 1 m 85 cm. And her favorite “sparrow” grew to 2 m 14 cm.
The accident did not pass without consequences
Having been discharged from the hospital, the singer did not yet know that the consequences of the terrible accident would remind themselves more than once. In 1970, Herman finally returned to the stage, but she could no longer afford to give concerts and go on tour as often as before. This was explained by the fact that any plane trip resulted in attacks of unbearable pain. Most of all, the singer was worried about her spine.
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However, there were times when painful attacks overtook her on the ground. At that time, Anna German could not even walk on her own. But the artist had incredible strong-willed qualities and was a real fighter, so even in such situations she overcame pain and went on stage to please her fans.
Heritage Herman
The performer left behind many recordings on which her incredibly beautiful voice can still be heard. In addition, she starred in four films and wrote two non-fiction books: “Return to Sorrento?” and “Anna German. A life told by herself."
Also in Urgench, her hometown, a street is named after the artist. And every year an international festival named after the singer “Dancing Eurydice” is held in Poland. Her grave is still a place of pilgrimage; every year there are crowds of fans leaving messages and flowers for their idol.
Herman left behind a seven-year-old son born from Zbigniew. Today he lives in Poland and is engaged in science. Zbigniew himself did not want to communicate with journalists for a very long time and refused interviews. Such secrecy contributed to the emergence of rumors both about the death of Herman herself and about her personal life and last years.
Anna German's success can be called phenomenal. The singer toured a lot, was loved in different countries and performed songs in various languages. Her repertoire included performances in Polish, Italian and Russian. The artist herself not only spoke these languages, but also spoke fluent English.
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