Maria Dorota Leopoldyna Czapska (6 February 1894 â 11 June 1981) was a Polish writer, essayist and historian. She was born in Prague to Count Jerzy Hutten-Czapski (1861âÂÂ1930), and Jozefina Thun-Hohenstein (1867âÂÂ1903), and grew up in Przyà Âuki, the family estate near Minsk. Her younger brother was Józef Czapski, and her relatives included Counts Emeryk Hutten-Czapski, Emeryk August Hutten-Czapski, and Karol Hutten-Czapski.
Czapska studied in Kraków from 1921 to 1925, and moved to Paris afterwards, spending the next five years there writing a biography of Adam Mickiewicz. The biography, La vie de Mickiewicz, published in 1931, was used for a time as a source in establishing Mickiewicz's ethnicity and origin, which remains under speculation. In 1938 she published her second work, Ludwika à Âniadecka, and received the literary prize "Wiadomoà Âci Literackich" for her efforts the following year.
During World War II, Czapska lived in Poland, and during this time was a member of The Council to Aid Jews, or à »egota. This led to her crossing the green border and moving to France in 1945, where she lived the rest of her life. For a short time, Czapska helped with the startup of Tygodnik Powszechny, and after moving to France she worked on Kultura, a Polish exile magazine. She was also a member of Polish Society of Arts and Sciences Abroad. During her time in exile, her works were subject to censorship, which was discovered after Tomasz Strzyà ¼ewski defected to Sweden, publishing the information which noted her name among many others. Later in life, she focused on literary works, namely Dwugà Âos wspomnieà Â, Europa w rodzinie, and Czas odmieniony. In 2014 two of her books, A Family of Central Europe and Through the Storm were published in one book for the first time in English.