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Lem´s ancestry
Pekka:
"Born in 1921 in Lwów, Poland, Lem was a curious child, the type of boy who played with his toys by dissecting them. As a teenager, he was inspired by the classic works of H. G. Wells, who used science fiction as a means of social criticism.
Lem, whose family was of Jewish ancestry, survived the Nazi occupation by a combination of luck and deceit. He worked under a false identity as a welder in a German-owned firm that recycled raw materials, a position that gave him a chance to pass materials to the Polish resistance. When his cover was blown, he went into hiding, resurfacing when the Red army arrived in 1944. After the war, Lem studied medicine but declined to finish his degree, since doctors were prime candidates for the postwar draft. Instead, he turned to science, taking a position at Konwersatorium Naukoznawcze, a Krakow-based research institute. That decision set the wheels of his bumpy career in motion."
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.12/solaris.html
Weird...is this true? Of course a man´s ancestry is not important, his works are, but I always thought that Dr. Lem was Polish. The main reason to ask is that I am planning to write about him and would like to be so accurate as possible.
greetings, Pekka
Terminus:
It was once said that there's something about Lem having Jewish ancestry in the High Castle (Wysoki Zamek), Lem's autobiography concernigh his youth.
But I cannot find it (I mean I have the book and I've checked it for it but haven't found anything. I guess I should try searching once more sometime):)
Metalist:
I think Lem was half Jewish from his father's side. It seems to me that some characters in the Hospital of Transfiguration were influenced by Lem's Jewish heritage.
Pekka:
--- Cytuj ---I think Lem was half Jewish from his father's side. It seems to me that some characters in the Hospital of Transfiguration were influenced by Lem's Jewish heritage.
--- Koniec cytatu ---
At least in the movie there is a female jewish physician who has fled Germany ("J" in German passport).
Know a Polish lady who is married to a Finn. Her mother is Jewish and father Polish. She was still a child during the war and has told me that a German soldier pointed a Luger at her when wanting information about the whereabouts of her mother, who was hiding. She was not harassed after that so probably half-Jewish people were not transferred to Ghettos, but how could Lem´s father survive, if he was Jewish? Just curious...Pekka
Metalist:
I've read a couple of biographies (incuding the one on this site, I believe) that mentioned that Lem had to set up a false identity and play a game of deception with the Nazis for a while. I've heard of similar stories, infact my grandmother had to do the same during the Nazi occupation of the Ukraine. I would speculate that his father (if indeed he was Jewish) would have done the same. Those doctors are pretty smart. ;)
I'm pretty sure that eventually the Nazis started sending people to the ghettos that weren't 100% Jewish. As you know, their "investigational tactics" in the matter were rather "crude".
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