in the process of your formation in the last 10 years you have not gone through that baptism of despair, all these things, everything didn't end for you irretrievably several times as it did for me in the ghettos and the camps. I'm sorry, Rys, I am embarrassed. You know how much I hate, how ashamed I am for those people who go on or "brag" about the years of torment they have lived through." Late life (1945-1973) Alina Szapocznikow, once in Prague, decided to study the art of sculpture. She trained as a sculptor in Otokar Velimsky's studio in Prague from 1945 to 1946. In 1947 she studied at the Academy of Art and Industry in Prague under the tutelage of Josef Wagner, after which she attended Paul Niclausse's atelier at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During her time in Paris, she was introduced to the Polish community where she met her first husband, , a Polish art historian, and the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Łódź. The artistic life of France was important in Szapocznikow's development as an artist – she was given the freedom to establish the fundamentals of sculpture. The artist was exposed to and inspired by the works of Jean Arp, Ossip Zadkine, Henry Moore and Alberto Giacometti. Between the years 1947–1949, Szapocznikow traveled back and forth between Prague and Paris for a time. In 1951, she was afflicted with a sudden illness. She was diagnosed with peritoneal tuberculosis, which was not treatable at the time. Under the recommendation of her doctor, she traveled to Sirod in the Jura Mountains, before a relapse caused her to go to a private hospital in Champagnole. After consulting her doctor, Szapocznikow allowed for the use of an experimental antibiotic (Streptomycin) which assisted in her recovery. She returned to Poland, where she married Stanisławski July 1952 and that same summer they adopted a son named Piotr. The artist took part in numerous competitions to create public monuments to Chopin, Polish-Soviet friendship, Warsaw heroes, the victims of Auschwitz, and Juliusz Słowacki. Szapocznikow and Stanisławski only stayed together for 6 years, before divorcing the summer of 1958, though they remained close for the rest of their lives. She became romantically involved with Polish graphic designer Roman Cieślewicz. They married 1967 in Paris. In 1962, Szapocznikow was offered a solo show in the Polish Pavilion at