Anna Herman's voice was admired in many countries of the world, but most of all in Poland and the Soviet Union. And until now, her name is legendary for many Russians and Poles, because more than one generation has grown up on her songs.
In the Uzbek SSR in the town of Urgench on February 14, 1936, Anna Victoria German was born. The girl's mother Irma was from the German Dutch, and father Eugen had German roots, they ended up in Central Asia due to the general dispossession.
A year and a half after the birth of Anna, in 1937, according to a denunciation of ill-wishers, her father was charged with espionage and was soon shot. Mom with Anna and Friedrich moved to Kyrgyzstan, and then to Kazakhstan. Another tragedy overtook them in 1939 - Anna's younger brother, Friedrich, died.
In 1942, Irma again married a Polish officer, thanks to which the mother and the girl were able to leave after the war in Poland to Wroclaw to the relatives of the stepfather who died in the war for permanent residence. In Wroclaw, Anna went to study at the General Education Lyceum.
The beginning of the creative path of Anna German
Boleslav Krivousty. The girl knew how to sing and draw well, and had a desire to study at the school of fine arts in Wroclaw. But my mother decided that it was better for her daughter to choose a more reliable profession, and Anna submitted documents to the University of Wroclaw for a geologist, who successfully graduated and became a master of geology.
At the university, the girl performed on stage for the first time, where she was noticed by the head of the "Pun" theater. Since 1957, Anna has been participating in the life of the theater for some time, but because of her studies she left performances. But the girl did not give up making music and decided to audition on the Wroclaw stage, where her performance was favorably accepted and included in the program.
At the same time, Anna took vocal lessons from a teacher at the conservatory and in 1962 passed the aptitude test, which made her a professional singer. For two months, the girl trained in Rome, which was previously awarded only to opera singers.
In 1963, Herman participated in the III International Song Festival in Sopot, with the song "So I feel bad about it" took the second prize of the competition.
In Italy, Anna met Katarzyna Gertner, who subsequently created the song “Dancing Eurydice” for her. With this composition, the singer participated in festivals in 1964 and became a real celebrity, and the song became Anna German's "business card".
For the first time, Anna German sang in the Soviet Union in the concert program “Guests of Moscow, 1964”. And the following year, the artist gave a tour of the Union, after which a gramophone record by the Melodiya company was released with songs performed by her in Polish and Italian. In the USSR, German met Anna Kachalina, who became her close friend for the rest of her life.
1965 was a very busy year for Anna in terms of creative activity. In addition to the Soviet tour, the singer took part in the Belgian festival "Charme de la Chanson" in Ostend. In 1966, the recording company “Italian Discography Company” became interested in the singer, which offered her solo recordings.
While in Italy, the singer performed Neapolitan compositions, which were released in the form of a gramophone record “Anna Herman presents the classics of the Neapolitan song”. Today, this record is worth its weight in gold among collectors, since the circulation was instantly sold out.
Festivals, victories, defeats German
At the Sanremo Festival in 1967, the singer participated with Cher, Dalida, Connie Francis, who, like Anna, did not reach the final.
Then, in the summer, the singer arrived in Viargio for the awarding of the “Oscar of Audience Choice”, which, in addition to her, was presented to Catarina Valente and Adriano Celentano.
At the end of August 1967, a performance took place in the town of Forli, after which Anna left with a driver in a car for Milan. That night there was a terrible accident, the singer was “thrown” out of the car, as a result of which she received many fractures, a concussion and lost her memory.
On the third day, her mother and old friend Zbigniew Tucholsky arrived to her, the singer was unconscious and only came to her senses on the 12th day. After resuscitation, Anna was treated in a well-known orthopedic clinic, where doctors said that life was out of danger, but it was unlikely to sing songs.
In the autumn of 1967, Anna and her mother crossed to Warsaw by plane. Doctors warned that the recovery process would be long and painful. It took Anna more than two years to overcome the consequences of a terrible accident. All this time she was supported by relatives and Zbyszek. In the course of her illness, Anna began to compose music, and over time, the album of songs “Human Destiny” was born, which was released in 1970 and became “Golden”.
Fans sent the singer many letters, to which she could not answer for health reasons, and at that time the idea was born to write a memoir. In the book, Anna described her first steps on stage, her Italian stay, a car accident, and expressed her gratitude to everyone who supported her. Book of memoirs “Return to Sorrento?” was completed in 1969.
The triumphant resumption of Anna Herman's pop activities in 1970 was called the "Return of Eurydice", at her first concert after her illness, the applause did not subside for a third of an hour. In the same year, A. Pakhmutova and A. Dobronravov created the composition “Hope”, which was first sung by Edita Piekha. Anna Herman performed the song in the summer of 1973, which became extremely famous, without it there was not a single concert in the USSR.
In the spring of 1972, in Zakopane, Anna and Zbigniew signed, in the documents the singer became Anna Herman-Tucholska. Doctors forbade the singer to give birth, but Anna dreamed of a child. Contrary to the predictions of doctors, in 1975, at the age of 39, her son Zbyszek was born safely.
In the autumn of 1972, Anna toured the Soviet Union, and at the beginning of winter, television launched a series of television programs “Anna German Sings”. After that, a tour of the Soviet Union was in 1975, when for the first time she sang V. Shainsky's song “And I like him”. "Melody" launched the release of another gramophone record with her songs in Russian.
In 1977, Anna participated in the Voices of Friends program, in which she met A. Pugacheva and V. Dobrynin. In parallel with this, V. Shainsky created the song “When the Gardens Bloomed” for Herman. At the same time, Anna performed the song “Echo of Love”, which became her favorite and was included in the film “Fate”. In "Song-77" Anna sang it in a duet with Lev Leshchenko.
In 1980, the singer was unable to continue her concert activity due to an incurable illness and never returned to the stage.
Shortly before her death, the singer was baptized and married. Anna Herman passed away on August 25, 1982, and was buried in the Calvinist cemetery in the Polish capital.
