OPACKA Anna

Born on 9 February 1934 in Zalesie, near Nisko (Subcarpathian Voivodeship); daughter of the forester Adam Chruszczewski, and the Polish philologist Jadwiga, née Kalińska. She was a pupil at the Private Secondary School of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nowy Sącz before joining the Tadeusz Kościuszko Grammar School in Myślenice. She was arrested in 1949 for involvement in opposition activities alongside other members of the Buki group of the Secret Polish Scouting Association. She subsequently received a two-year suspended prison sentence from the Juvenile Court in Krakow. Following a request from the school branch of the Union of Polish Youth (ZMP), she was consequently demoted from the graduating class and barred from applying to universities. She completed her advanced secondary education in 1953 as an extramural pupil of the Bartłomiej Nowodworski Grammar School in Krakow. She then studied Polish philology at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). She made her debut with a paper analysing the composition of Adam Mickiewicz's Rozmowa wieczorna (An Evening Talk), which formed part of a larger study, Pokrewieństwo i artyzm. Uwagi o liryce rzymsko-drezdeńskiej [A. Mickiewicza] (Affinities and Artistry: Remarks on [Adam Mickiewicz's] Rome and Dresden Lyrical Poetry). This work received first prize at the 1956 Congress of Polish Philologists in Warsaw and was subsequently published in 1960 in the journal "Polonista" (no. 12; as: Anna Chruszczewska). After graduating in 1960 she worked at KUL's publishing house, Wydawnictwo Naukowe KUL, and then as a supply teacher in primary and middle schools in Lublin. She defended her doctoral thesis, Twórczość liryczna Józefa Dunina Borkowskiego (Józef Dunin Borkowski's Lyrical Works), in 1970 at the Marie Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin. It was supervised by Prof. Janina Garbaczowska. In 1973, she was appointed lecturer at the Department for Methods in Teaching Polish Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philology at the Sosnowiec campus of the University of Silesia (UŚ). Her research focused on Polish Romantic lyric poetry and orality in literature. She was also interested in methods for teaching Polish literature, especially lyric poetry, in schools and universities. In 1974, she gave a series of lectures for final year school pupils and teachers, including some held as part of an annual initiative organized by the Sosnowiec branch of the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society (of which she was a member). Other lectures were held in schools and cultural institutions in the region. She joined the Literary History Commission of the Katowice Branch of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN). From 1980 to 1993 she was director of the Postgraduate Programme for Polish Philologists, which she herself initiated. She was awarded a habilitation degree in 1989 from UŚ for her book Litewska epopeja J.I. Kraszewskiego. Szkice o „Anafielas” (Józef Ignacy Kraszewski's Lithuanian Epic: Sketches on Anafielas). Starting in 1989, she spent several years as head of the Katowice Regional Committee of the Olympiad in Polish Literature and Language. In 1990 she was appointed senior lecturer at UŚ, before being made associate professor in 1993. From 1993 to 2003 she was chair of the jury of the Plateranka One Poem Tournament (Turniej Jednego Wiersza o "Laur Plateranki"), organized by the Emilia Plater Grammar School in Sosnowiec in conjunction with the city council. From 1997 to 1998 she was chair of the Regional Jury of the National Mickiewicz Competition. In 1995, she was appointed head of the Institute of Didactics of Polish Literature at the Chair of Linguistic Didactics and Polish Literature at UŚ. In 2002, she was appointed to the chair. From 1995 to 2004 she was head of the Postgraduate Programme in Polish Philology for Humanities Graduates. She also ran a specialist seminar in literary didactics as part of the Doctoral Programme. During this period she was also supervisor of the Inter-area Individual Studies in the Humanities at UŚ. She was a member of the Executive Board of the Adam Mickiewicz Literary Society from 1995 to 2001. She then joined the Silesian branch following the resumption of its activities in 2006. In 1996, she served as a consultant for the Nowa Matura Programme (which sought to reform Polish secondary school exams). The following year she was an expert advising the Ministry of National Education on assessing textbooks in Polish philology. She was also a consultant for the Silesian Education Board on final secondary school exams in Polish language. During this period she published popular-scientific texts and book reviews in periodicals including "Warsztaty Polonistyczne" (1994–95 and 1998–99). Her scholarly studies appeared in journals including "Śląsk" (1999–2000). In 2001, she was made state-appointed professor in humanities. She retired in 2004. From February 2005 to 2015 she worked at the Higher School of Marketing Management and Foreign Languages in Katowice, where she was an associate professor and head of the Department of Polish Philology. She twice received the award of the Minister of National Education, in 1990 and 2001, while she was awarded the UŚ Rector's prize on several occasions in recognition of her achievements in research and teaching (1974, 1976, 1978, 1997, 1999, and 2001). She received the Gold Cross of Merit, the Medal of the Commission of National Education (1993) and the Silver Mickiewicz Badge. She married the literary historian Ireneusz Opacki in 1958. They had three daughters together: the Romance philologist Krystyna (b. 1959; married name: Arabska); the literary historian Danuta (b. 1962; married name: Walasek); and the cultural studies scholar Teresa (b. 1966; married name: Sojka). Anna Opacka died on 2 June 2017 in Katowice. She is buried at the Catholic Parish Cemetery of St Hyacinth (Św. Jacek) in Sosnowiec.