Day 15 Anna German – a polish singer with an angelic voice - Part 1 Anna German was a polish singer, which was immensely popular in the Soviet Union. Anna was born in Urgench, in Uzbekistan in 1936. Her mother, Irma Martens, was the descendant of Plautdietsch-speaking Mennonites. Her father, Eugen Hörmann, was of a Russian-German pastor family. In 1937 Anna’s father was arrested and falsely blamed for spying. Officially he was sentenced to 10 years without the right to correspondence, but in fact, he was executed, then he was rehabilitated posthumously in 1957. Anna’s hardships were not ended by this tragic event. Her mother, grandmother together with Anna and her little brother moved in Siberia and then in Tashkent and later in the Kyrgyz and Kazakh SSRs. Anna brother died at the age of fewer than 2 years. The family did not make ends meet. Her mother took any available opportunity to earn money. Then her mother married to a polish soldier, Herman Gerner and Anna’s family moved in Poland. Anna wanted to study painting, but her mother insisted on something more stable for earning on life. So, she entered the Geological Institute of Wroclaw University. She had a very romantic view of this specialization: being close to nature and singing songs near the fire in evenings. Her first performance occurred in 1960 as a part of student’s theatre “Kalambur”. On one of her first concerts, she forgot words and was so upset by it that even stopped her participation. Thanks to her friend, Anna passed a preselection of Wroclaw stage. After one year she passed exams and became a professional singer. The first fame came to Anna when she won the 1964 II Festival of Polish Songs in Opole with her song "Tańczące Eurydyki". One year later, the singer won first prize in the international song contest in Sopot. In 1965 Anna German came to the USSR for performance. She became unbelievably popular and beloved there. Her first album was released in the USSR, it encompassed songs performed in Polish and Italian languages. In 1966 Anna signed the contract with a small firm CDI in Milan to release her songs, so she was the first singer from the "iron curtain", who was recorded in Italy. She also performed at the festival San-Remo-1967, starred in a television show and recorded the program together with the singer Domenico Modugno. Besides, she performed at the festival of Neapolitan songs in Sorrento and received "Oscar della simpatia" award. However, she confessed, that the high life had burdened her. To be continued