Ferdynand Goetel (15 May 1890 – 24 November 1960) was a Polish

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

, playwright,

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

screen writer A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. T ...

, and political activist; member of the prestigious

Polish Academy of Literature The Polish Academy of Literature ( pl, Polska Akademia Literatury, PAL) was one of the most important state institutions of literary life in the Second Polish Republic, operating between 1933 and 1939 with the headquarters in Warsaw. It was foun ...

from 1935; president of the Polish

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internation ...

as well as the Union of Polish Writers in

interwar Poland The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...

. He established a prominent place in Polish literary circles between the wars and was the recipient of the "Golden Laurel" awarded by the

for his contributions to

Polish literature Polish literature is the literary tradition of Poland. Most Polish literature has been written in the Polish language, though other languages used in Poland over the centuries have also contributed to Polish literary traditions, including Latin, ...

. He was forced to leave Poland after World War II due to his involvement in the German investigation of the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

and died in exile in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Early years

Goetel was born at Sucha Beskidzka near

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

. He attended schools in Kraków and

Lvov Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

but was not a model pupil; he later admitted in his memoirs that he was "considered wayward, rebellious, and even insolent," getting into trouble for secretly smoking cigars, gambling and distributing photographs of women. He was expelled from several schools. He was sent to a military school before ending up at the imperial ''

Realschule ''Realschule'' () is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), ...

'' (Szkoła realna), from which he graduated. Goetel subsequently went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

to study

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

at the

Vienna University of Technology TU Wien (TUW; german: Technische Universität Wien; still known in English as the Vienna University of Technology from 1975–2014) is one of the major universities in Vienna, Austria. The university finds high international and domestic recogn ...

, where his talent earned him a scholarship. He moved back to Warsaw in 1912 but was arrested and interned by the Russian authorities at the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, as he was an Austrian citizen in Russian-ruled Poland. The Russian authorities sent him to an internment camp at

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of 2 ...

Turkestan Turkestan, also spelled Turkistan ( fa, ترکستان, Torkestân, lit=Land of the Turks), is a historical region in Central Asia corresponding to the regions of Transoxiana and Xinjiang. Overview Known as Turan to the Persians, western Turk ...

, where he was put to work on road and bridge construction. After the Russian Revolution he served with the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

for a while, an experience he subsequently used as the basis for his 1922 novel ''Kar Chat'', about the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

in the Caucasus. In December 1919, with the situation in Russia deteriorating and his newly married wife Jadwiga pregnant, he decided to make an escape to Poland. The journey took the couple fourteen months, via Persia, Afghanistan, India and England, before they arrived back in the now independent republic of Poland in January 1921.

Literary career during the inter-war years

Goetel's experiences in Russia prompted him to become a staunch anti-communist. The events of his internment, exile and escape were described in his memoir ''Przez płonący Wschód'' (''Across The Burning East'', 1923), and in his 1929 novel ''From Day to Day'', about the Russian internment camp. He was elected president of the Polish Pen Club from 1926–33 and also served as president of the Trade Union of Polish Writers. In 1936 he was accepted as a member of the Polish Academy of Literature. During the inter-war years Goetel wrote a number of novels and travel books that were well received. ''From Day to Day'' was translated into a number of languages and was filmed by

Józef Lejtes Józef Lejtes (1901–1983) was a Polish screenwriter and film director. He later worked in Israel and the United States. Selected filmography Poland: * ''Huragan'' (1928) * ''Z dnia na dzień'' (1929) * ''Dzikie pola'' (1932) * ''Pod Twoją obro ...

. He also wrote for the theatre; his play ''Samuel Zborowski'' about the 1584 beheading of Samuel Zborowski was performed in Warsaw at Teatr Polski in 1929 with Marian Jednowski in the title role, and Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski as King

Stefan Batory Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

Wartime years and exile

Goetel joined the Polish resistance movement Armia Krajowa (AK, or Home Army) in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, and was temporarily imprisoned in

Pawiak Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation ...

by the SS. He has sometimes been described as the last victim of Katyn. He was blacklisted in

communist Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

and driven out of the country in 1945 with an arrest warrant issued against him by the secret police, because the Germans arranged for him to participate in the original Katyn delegation on behalf of the AK, and also because in his postwar writings he demanded justice for the victims of Katyn. Goetel was proposed as a witness for the Katyn delegation by lawyer Ludwig Fischer, the German governor of Warsaw, but ultimately, the Polish delegation refused to help the Nazi propaganda efforts any further, and secretly informed the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

about their findings. The first arrest warrants against Goetel were issued in July 1945. For the next several months he stayed in hiding at the

Carmelites , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Ca ...

convent in Kraków and then, in December 1945 escaped to Italy on a false passport. He joined the Army of General Anders and, at the conclusion of World War II, went to London. He lived there until his death in 1960. In exile, he wrote mostly memoirs and fiction based on his own life experiences. His grave is located in the North Sheen Cemetery.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goetel, Ferdynand 1890 births 1960 deaths People from Sucha Beskidzka Polish male writers Polish publicists Golden Laurel of the Polish Academy of Literature Members of the Polish Academy of Literature Polish expatriates in the United Kingdom Burials at North Sheen Cemetery

Early years

Literary career during the inter-war years

Wartime years and exile

Works

See also

References