Anna German.

Anna Wiktoria German was born on February 14, 1936 in Urgench, Uzbek SSR, to Irma Mertens Berner and Eugen Hörmann. Her parents, of German origin, were banished to Central Asia after the Nazi invasion of the USSR. Her father died in a labor camp. After the war, her mother married a Pole and the family moved to Poland. She studied geology at the University of Wrocław, where she discovered her singing talent by winning a song competition.

In the early 1960s, while studying geology at the University of Wrocław, Anna German won a song competition, launching her career as a pop singer. She gained popularity in Poland and the USSR, performing at festivals such as Monte Carlo, San Remo, and Sopot. In August 1967, she was severely injured in a road accident in Italy, halting her career for three years. After three years of rehabilitation, she returned to singing in 1970. She also appeared in the film Landscape After Battle 1970, playing the character of an American. Her career continued until her death from bone cancer in 1982.

Anna German married Zbigniew Tucholski on March 23, 1972. They had one son, Zbigniew Tucholski Jr., born on November 27, 1975. She was of German-Dutch origin and spoke Russian natively. Her husband was a Polish engineer. She kept her private life separate from her public career.

Anna German earned the Knight of the Order of Polonia Restituta, People’s Artist of the RSFSR, Gold Cross of Merit, and Woman of Warsaw of the Year. Her songs, performed in Polish and Russian, remained popular after her death. She is best remembered for her powerful voice and for surviving a car crash that led many to mistakenly connect it to her cancer.