Uprooting and war in ‘Els tres noms de la Ludka’ by Gisela Pou

This afternoon, the Francesc Pujols Library in Martorell hosted the presentation of the novel Ludka’s three names, the work of the writer and screenwriter Gisela Pou. The book, set in 1946, tells a story in three voices, Ludka’s, Emma’s and Isabel’s, which intertwine to tell the story of the hundred Polish children kidnapped by the Nazis, that thanks to the International Red Cross and the Polish consulate they were transferred and welcomed to Barcelona, ​​where the first Polish school was founded. The director of the Library, Mercè Parera, introduced the author.

Gisela Pou has explained that the main argument of the novel “turns on the fact that in 1946 the Franco government decided to bring to Barcelona a hundred children who were in the Swiss refugee camp, on the initiative of the International Red Cross and the Polish Consulate. The main reasons were, on the one hand, Franco’s desire to ingratiate himself with the allies, and, on the other, religion, since the Holy See intervened, because the Polish government in exile was Catholic, just like Spain. The novel starts from this fact, but apart from talking about the post-war period of the Second World War, it also delves into the post-Spanish Civil War”.

Gisela Pou, autora Els tres noms de la Ludka

The main issue, however, is the uprooting of these children, which is caused by the war and by the fact of immigrating to a foreign country out of necessity. “To show this position I had to invent a fictitious character, which is that of Ludka Nowak, a girl who was kidnapped and who does not remember anything about her first years of life”, said Pou.

Gisela Pou, autora Els tres noms de la Ludka

The novel delves into the history of both contemporary wars through the protagonists, who are characters “written from within, with full knowledge of their referents, and of their world. For me it is a pleasure to document myself deeply to be able to write, and in this case I have been doing it for two years, because I need to feel that I am part of the 40s and that I understand the people of that time”, expressed the author .

Gisela Pou, autora Els tres noms de la Ludka

Gisela Pou Valls (Castellar del Vallès, 1959) is known for her profession as a television scriptwriter, but she has also written children’s and youth literature and novels for an adult audience. Graduated in Biological Sciences in 1981, published two titles related to biology. He soon began to write and, in 1989, published his first novel, background noiseat the Tres i Quatre Publishing House.

Pou has a master’s degree in screenwriting for film and television from the UAB and has been co-director of studies on television and cinematographic fiction at the UB, as well as a teacher of the Master’s in television scripting organized by the Menéndez i Pelayo International University in Valencia.

As a playwright, she has a work premiered in 2004 in Castellar del Vallès with the name Mud night, directed by Rosa Grané. She belongs to the group of writers of the Quintana Sisters, who have published several titles: Zeal, Fear, Family Book, Mud Night… He has also participated in the collective book Powder facts! (2004) from the Montflorit publishing house.