Non omnis moriar

Zuzanna Ginczanka

1942

Non omnis moriar. My grand estate—
Tablecloth meadows, invincible wardrobe castles,
Acres of bedsheets, finely woven linens,
And dresses, colorful dresses—will survive me.
I leave no heirs.
So let your hands rummage through Jewish things,
You, Chomin’s wife from Lvov, you mother of a volksdeutscher.
May these things be useful to you and yours,
For…
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“I shall not wholly die,” proclaimed Polish-language poet Zuzanna Ginczanka, shortly after she was betrayed by her landlady to the Gestapo during World War II. Indeed, this poem was later used as evidence in the postwar collaboration trial of Ms. Chomin. The poet’s focus on the deeds of her Polish neighbor and the legacy of her own enduring identity highlights a difference from other sources in this collection. Unlike literary works such as Kovner’s “Call to Arms,” Ginczanka does not frame her plight through the language of the survival of the Jewish collective.

Related Guide

Holocaust and Post-Holocaust Fiction and Poetry

1939–1973

Jewish literature developed individual rather than collective voices, as postwar Jewish identity was transformed by the forces of modernism and assimilation.

Related Guide

The Holocaust: Years of Catastrophe

1939–1945

Jewish writing in Nazi-occupied areas documented ghetto life, moral questions, and Jewish identity, while writers in free zones grappled with the unfolding tragedy.

Creator Bio

Zuzanna Ginczanka

1917–1944

Born in Kiev but raised by her grandmother in the predominantly Jewish city of Rivne, Zuzanna Ginczanka (also known as Gincburg) was a Polish-language poet, literary translator, and author of radio plays. Ginczanka moved to Warsaw in 1935, bringing with her a reputation as an innovative poet. Her one published collection of poetry, the volume O centaurach (1936), was considered a literary sensation in its day. During the war, Ginczanka spent much of her time in hiding, going back to Rivne, then to Lviv, and finally to Kraków. She was ultimately betrayed by one of the landlords who had kept her in hiding in Kraków and likely murdered at a Nazi prison outside the city. Ginczanka’s most famous poem “Non omnis moriar” was later used as evidence against her betrayer in a postwar collaborationism trial in Poland.

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