18. May 2012

Author‘s panel with Marcin Szczygielski

The classy revue diva, who was reputed for her great sex appeal and became a shooting star at the beginning of the thirties, quickly turned into Poland‘s most famous actress.

The platinum blonde beauty was bent on keeping her Jewish roots a secret. During the war, she fell in love with an Austrian army officer and had his child; the pair were accordingly accused of racial defilement. While she was imprisoned together with the child, he was sent to fight at the front line in the West. Benita managed to flee and disappeared without a trace. Some say she was killed. Others claim that she fled to Vienna and simply tried to forget the past. In any case, her story was intentionally hushed up in Poland after World War II; she was not even mentioned in relevant reference books any more.

Marcin Szczygielski has investigated her life and fate for many years, especially talking to people who had known her. He browsed through entire yearbooks of magazines, fusty documents etc. and finally managed to put together a complete portrait of Ina Benita. The result of his work is available in the form of the bestseller Poczet Królowych Polskich, which was published in a second extended edition in spring 2012.

The author‘s panel with best-seller author Marcin Szczygielski will be held in German and in English. Joanna Ziemska from the University of Vienna will moderate the event and present the German reading.