The situation of literary translations from German into Polish and from Polish into German is best illustrated by numbers. In Germany, only 40 titles translated from Polish are published annually. In Poland, books originally written in German rank 3rd among translated titles per year, but this still amounts to just 149 titles, considerably fewer than the leader, English, with 2,881 titles per year.
Despite these disparities, there is a strong desire to deepen Polish-German cooperation in the field of literature, and it was in this spirit that the panel “Transfer of Knowledge and Culture through Literature” took place. The meeting was led by culture manager Natalia Prüfer, and her interlocutors were: Jürgen Jakob Becker – director of the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds – an organisation supporting translators, Grzegorz Jankowicz – director of the Book Institute, Katharina Raabe – editor of Eastern European literature at the Suhrkamp publishing house, Monika Sznajderman – founder and president of the Czarne publishing house, and translators: Zofia Sucharska and Lisa Palmes.
All the guests felt a strong connection to a quote by Albrecht Lempp – a distinguished translator of Polish literature into German and former director of the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, who used to say: “Our Polish literature and our German literature,” thereby pointing to their special connection and the importance of mutual cooperation in translation. The role of translations is, after all, the desire to learn about another country and to build bridges.
The panellists sought to find an answer or justification for the rather low number of mutual translations. Katharina Raabe from Suhrkamp Verlag emphasised that there are Polish authors who are widely read in Germany, mentioning classics as well as several contemporary names such as Szczepan Twardoch, Joanna Bator and Andrzej Stasiuk. German readers have also called for translations of novels by Dorota Masłowska, as well as books by Grzegorz Kasdepke from the children’s literature market. This shows that there is a chance to increase interest across various fields of literature.
From his perspective, Jürgen Becker observed that mainly the more significant voices of Polish literature make it through to Germany.
– It is a normal phenomenon that not every debut immediately reaches the international stage. I think the level of translation is very high – added Jürgen Becker.
An author particularly valued by our western neighbours is Nobel Prize laureate Olga Tokarczuk, whose translations into German are primarily handled by Lisa Palmes, who was present at the panel.
Director of the Book Institute Grzegorz Jankowicz emphasised how important it is for initiatives undertaken at the publishing level to be developed further at the promotional level.
The panellists were saddened by the fact that neither German literature in Poland nor Polish literature in Germany are first choices for readers. Monika Sznajderman put forward the thesis that on the Polish market, Austrian prose is more readily read. She also explained why the Czarne publishing house does not translate too many German books. In her view, German literature has not been generating the same ferment as it once did, and the topic and place that interests Poles most in Germany is Berlin. Yet Berlin is an extraterritorial city and in a sense “un-German.” Other regions do not attract wide interest. The publisher also once again drew attention to the issue of insufficient promotion, seeing this as the reason why only a narrow circle of readers in Poland reaches for German literature.
An important voice in the discussion came from the translators, who shared their experience of working with publishers. They admitted that their proposals to translate a German or Polish book are not met with publisher approval. The most frequent argument is the fear that a given title simply “won’t sell” and won’t bring profit. Regardless of what the book is actually about, in the case of the Polish market it is enough for the author’s name to sound German. According to publishers, this negatively affects sales.
– That is why the role of small publishing houses is crucial. They are bolder and more open, they do not focus as much on potential profit and do not succumb so easily to stereotypes – emphasised Zofia Sucharska.
Every industry, without exception, is marked by the fear of the impact of artificial intelligence on the future. This topic also inflames the translation community. Will AI be, or perhaps already is, more of a help or a threat? The translators present at the meeting were of the opinion that ultimately, the human element is irreplaceable. Although of course there are situations when AI suggests something so well that “it sends shivers down your spine.” It is worth noting, however, that for now, artificial intelligence tools cannot handle, for example, detecting irony or humour in a text, which means their translation is always literal. Here, humans are unmatched. From her own experience, Zofia Sucharska also added that she faces the challenge of translating a book written in dialect. Attempts to work with AI in this area proved decidedly fruitless; for now, human input is essential, including collaboration with other translators, for instance from other languages.
The topic of artificial intelligence in the translation industry does, however, raise considerable concerns. The dynamically developing technology is like a force of nature – it is hard to predict how quickly it may begin to threaten living translators. All those gathered agreed that discussing such an extensive topic would require a separate panel. This is perhaps a plan for the future, and certainly not the only one. The panellists expressed hope for participation in the next Forum.
There is no doubt that the role of literature in building bridges between countries is invaluable. Perhaps in the coming years, the importance attached to this topic will grow, and panels on cultural themes will be clearly visible on the agenda of the Polish-German Forum.
The panel “Transfer of Knowledge and Culture through Literature,” organised by the Polish Institute in Berlin and the Deutscher Übersetzerfonds, took place as part of the Polish-German Forum 2025 “Community for Difficult Times.”
Maja Owczarek