Agnieszka Lessmann. Writing as necessity

However, Agnieszka Lessmann also remains true to poetry, publishing individual poems or entire volumes every so often, such as “State of Flight” (“Fluchtzustand”, published by Elif Verlag, 2020). In the 100-page volume of poetry, Lessmann processes her experiences as a teacher of German as a foreign language from 2015 onwards.

In 2025, her first novel was published by the Berlin-based Gans Verlag. “Aga” is a work of autofiction that sensitively and poetically describes the childhood and youth of traumatised people, bringing their experience close to home for the reader. Here, we also find out more about Agnieszka’s father and other survivors of the Holocaust, whom she encountered as a child at a meeting place used by the Jewish community when she arrived in Germany.

The term “transgenerational trauma” has now become somewhat overused when talking about literature. However, “Aga” is an outstanding example of how this complex topic can be approached. The story is told from a child’s perspective, and forces us as readers to open up to something that we generally prefer to bury under clever terminology and well-rehearsed displays of concern: our feelings. The silence of the parents in the story doesn’t mean that their terrible experiences are no longer present. Rather, they continue to exist as atmospheres, which children can sense like high-precision seismographs. In the novel, the author writes: “They don’t know, and they don’t understand; instead, they can sense something. [...] It sinks to the bottom of the jug, and when the coffee has been poured out, a black essence remains.”

Although Germany was the country of origin of the perpetrators (and many victims) of the National Socialist dictatorship, in Cologne, Agnieszka Lessmann feels at ease and is closely connected with the literary life in the city. She is a member of the Cologne Literary Scene (Literaturszene Köln) and the Poetry Network (Netzwerk Lyrik), as well as the PEN Germany (PEN Deutschland) writers’ organisation. Currently, she is working on a poetry cycle about the Jewish quarter in Cologne and her family history, funded by a stipend from the German Literature Fund (Deutscher Literaturfonds). She is also in the process of completing her second novel.

Agnieszka Lessmann has spent many more years of her life in Germany than in Poland. However, her connections with her birth country go beyond her forced departure. She loves the Polish language, as well as Polish literature and film. She also explains that Poland was the first Eastern Bloc country to stand up to the Soviet dictatorship: “There’s a part of society that is making serious efforts to secure both a democratic future and to study and process Polish history, including antisemitism in Poland.”

She admires the willingness among many people in Germany to engage with the past, even if it is painful to do so. What particularly stands out for her, however, is the fact that the Germans have succeeded in developing a functioning democracy, and that even in the current difficult times, the large majority of Germans are fighting to maintain and defend it. With this in mind, she hopes that the relationship between Poland and Germany, as well as the ties between the two countries and the rest of Europe, will become even stronger. “After all, that’s our only chance to beat authoritarian regimes.”

Anselm Neft, January 2026

The author’s website: https://agnieszkalessmann.de/