Elżbieta Ettinger (September 19, 1924 – March 12, 2005) was aPolish-American Jewish writer.
The daughter of Emmanuel Ettinger and Regina Stahl, she was born inŁódź. Along with her family, she was transferred to theWarsaw Ghetto but in 1942, she was able to escape the ghetto with the help of her mother and, using forged identity papers, adopted the nameElżbieta Chodakowska. She worked with thePolish resistance duringWorld War II. In 1946, she received a degree in English and Germanphilology fromJagellonian University and, in 1949, aMA in English philology fromWarsaw University. In 1966, she earned aPhD in English and American literature from Warsaw University.[1][2]
She worked at various jobs in post-war Poland, including journalism, translation, editing and research. Her career in Poland took a downturn after she refused a permanent post in the country's National Security office and she sought employment in the United States. Risinganti-Semitism in Poland at the time may have also contributed to her departure. From 1967 to 1974, she was a senior fellow at theRadcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. From 1975 to 1996, she was a professor of writing at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology; she helped establish the program in writing and humanistic studies there. Ettinger and her daughter later became American citizens. She also taught at thePine Manor College inChestnut Hill, Massachusetts from 1971 to 1973 and at theHarvard Extension School from 1972 to 1973.[2][1][3]
Ettinger described her experiences during World War II in her first novelKindergarten published in 1968. Her second novelQuicksand, published in 1989, described her life in post-war Poland. In 1987, she published a biographyRosa Luxemburg, A Life. In 1995, she published the controversial work,Hannah Arendt-Martin Heidegger[4] about the relationship between a Jewish philosopher and herNazi mentor.[1][3]
In 1943, she married Gierek, a partisan sympathizer. The couple separated after the war and she had a relationship with university professor Manfred Lachs; they had a daughter.[2]
Ettinger died of heart failure at home inCambridge at the age of 80.[1]
