Editing Alice Parizeau

{{short description|Polish born Quebec journalist}}
{{Infobox person
| name  = Alice Parizeau
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}}
| image = Alice Parizeau.jpg
| birth_date = {{birth date|1930|07|25}}
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|1990|09|30|1930|07|25}}
}}
'''Alice Parizeau''' {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC}} (née '''Alicja Poznańska'''; 25 July 1930 – 30 September 1990) was a Polish-[[French-speaking Quebecer|Canadian]] writer, essayist, journalist and criminologist.

==Early life==
Her parents were  Stanislaw Poznański (1894 - 1943) and Rebeka (Bronislawa Breina) Kestenberg (1892-1943) Polish Jews murdered in the Holocaust, both in [[Otwock]], Poland according to the testimony of  Kestenberg's brother, Yehuda Adam Kestenberg, recorded in Yad Vashem.<ref>[https://yvng.yadvashem.org/index.html?language=en&s_lastName=Pozna%C5%84ski%20&s_firstName=Stanislaw%20&s_place=&s_dateOfBirth=&s_inTransport= Yad Vashem]</ref> Stanislaw Poznański was the son of Karol Poznański and grandson of [[Izrael Poznański]], a famous Polish-Jewish businessman, textile magnate and philanthropist ([[Philanthropy]]) in Łódź.

Born in [[Łuniniec]], Poland, as a young girl Poznańska was associated with the [[Polish Home Army]] during the 1944 [[Warsaw Uprising]] during [[World War II]], which led to her internment in the [[Bergen-Belsen concentration camp|Bergen-Belsen]] prisoner of war camp and her receipt of a war medal following the war.<ref>Delphine Le Roux, [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/parizeau-alice/ "Alice Parizeau"]. ''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. Historica-Dominion, 2010</ref>

Following the war Poznańska went to [[Paris]] to study at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]], earning degrees in literature, law and political science. In 1955 she visited a friend from the Sorbonne in Quebec, where she accepted a short contract which would turn into a lifelong stay. She married economist and politician [[Jacques Parizeau]] the following year.

Though of Jewish background, and interned in Bergen Belsen during the Holocaust, Alice Poznanska's funeral was held at a Catholic church.<ref>Myths, Issues, Facts, [http://sallyzerker.blogspot.ca/2005/11/jacque-parizeaus-jewish-offspring.html] "Jacque Parizeau's "Jewish" Offspring"</ref>

==Career==
As a Quebecer, Parizeau was strongly associated with Montreal's intellectual and sovereigntist scenes, respectively. While best known as a novelist and journalist &mdash; she wrote for ''[[Cité libre]]'', ''[[La Presse (Canada)|La Presse]]'', ''[[Châtelaine]]'', ''[[Le Devoir]]'', ''[[La Patrie (Canadian newspaper)|La Patrie]]'' and ''[[Maclean's]]'' &mdash; Parizeau held a number of other positions. These included civil servant with the City of [[Montreal]], researcher for [[Société Radio-Canada]] and, most notably, criminology researcher,<ref name="Strong-Boag2011">{{cite book|author=Veronica Strong-Boag|title=Fostering Nation?: Canada Confronts Its History of Childhood Disadvantage|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RjaAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT193|date=28 September 2011|publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|isbn=978-1-55458-798-8|pages=193–}}</ref> lecturer and secretary-general of the Centre international de criminologie comparée at the [[Université de Montréal]], where she served for many years as the ''de facto'' assistant director to [[Denis Szabo]], founder of modern criminology in Quebec.

Parizeau's writing was known for its outstanding storytelling and sensitive treatment of themes relating both to the Quebec people, which she portrayed in romantic terms congruent with the sovereignty movement's ideals, and life in and exile from Poland. She won the ''Prix européen de l'Association des écrivains de langue française'' in 1982 for her novel ''Les lilas fleurissent à Varsovie'' (translated as ''The Lilacs are Blooming in Warsaw''). In 1987, she was made an Officer of the [[Order of Canada]]. Many members of the [[Quebec sovereignty movement]], including the press, criticised her for accepting an honour from the [[Governor General of Canada]].

==Memorials==
In 1990, Parizeau died of cancer in [[Outremont, Quebec|Outremont]], Quebec, leaving her husband, Jacques, and two children, Isabelle, a lawyer, and Bernard, a doctor. The École Alice Parizeau in Montreal and the Bibliothèque Alice-Parizeau in [[Saint-Esprit, Quebec|Saint-Esprit]], Quebec were named in her honour.

==Works==
* ''Les solitudes humaines'' (1962)
* ''Voyage en Pologne'' (1963)
* ''Fuir'' (1963)
* ''Survivre'' (1964)
* ''Une Québécoise en Europe rouge'' (1965)
* ''Rue Sherbrooke Ouest'' (1967)
* ''Les lilas fleurissent à Varsovie'' (1981)
* ''Côte-des-Neiges'' (1983)<ref name="GilbertSantoro2010">{{cite book|author1=Paula Gilbert|author2=Miléna Santoro|title=Transatlantic Passages: Literary and Cultural Relations between Quebec and Francophone Europe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HmeW8MsXUFgC&pg=PA190|date=20 October 2010|publisher=MQUP|isbn=978-0-7735-8128-9|pages=190–}}</ref>
* ''Blizzard sur Québec'' (1987)

==See also==
{{portal|Novels}}
* [[Culture of Quebec]]
* [[List of Quebec authors]]
* [[Literature of Quebec]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{in lang|fr}} "[http://services.banq.qc.ca/sdx/dalfan/document.xsp?app=ca.bnquebec.sdx.dalfan&db=DALFAN&id=1264&qid=sdx_q0&n=25 PARIZEAU, ALICE]", in ''Dictionnaire des auteurs de langue française en Amérique du Nord'', 1989
* http://www.cjnews.com/perspectives/opinions/jacques-parizeaus-legacy-divides-us
* http://www.iforum.umontreal.ca/Forum/ArchivesForum/2001-2002/020318/article910.htm

== External links ==
* {{in lang|fr}} Jean-Marie Tremblay, "[http://classiques.uqac.ca/contemporains/parizeau_alice/parizeau_alice.html Alice Poznanska-Parizeau [1930-1990&#93;]", in ''Les Classiques des sciences sociales'' (several works online)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parizeau, Alice}}
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:1990 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian novelists]]
[[Category:Canadian women novelists]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:Spouses of Canadian politicians]]
[[Category:University of Paris alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women writers]]
[[Category:Canadian novelists in French]]
[[Category:Deaths from cancer in Quebec]]
[[Category:Burials at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery]]
[[Category:Novelists from Quebec]]