Jan Józef Szczepański
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Jan Józef Szczepański (January 12, 1919 – February 20, 2003) was a Polish writer,
reporter A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...
, essayist, film
scriptwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...
and
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, Tatra mountaineer, and traveller. He was the president of the Association of Polish Writers.


Early liefe

Jan Józef Szczepański was born on January 12, 1919, in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, Poland. His father was Aleksander Szczepański, diplomat of the
Second Polish Republic 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 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...
and economist, associated with the zinc industry of
Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( ; ; ; ; Silesian German: ; ) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located today mostly in Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic. The area is predominantly known for its heav ...
, brother of Maria Kuncewiczowa, and his mother was Maria Znatowicz-Szczepańska, a French teacher, translator of Serbian literature and publicist.Henryk Szczepański: ''Janek z kościuszkowskiego wzgórza'', „Śląsk” R. XXVI, nr 9 (300), wrzesień 2020, s. 42–45. From the years 1932 to 1937, his family lived in
Katowice Katowice (, ) is the capital city of the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland and the central city of the Katowice urban area. As of 2021, Katowice has an official population of 286,960, and a resident population estimate of around 315,000. K ...
, where Szczepański attended the boys' State Gymnasium and High School at Mickiewicza Street. Then he studied
Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...
, graduating in 1947.


Career

He took part in the September campaign in 1939. In 1941, he joined the Military Organization Lizard Union (from 1942
National Armed Forces National Armed Forces (; NSZ) was a Polish right-wing underground military organization of the National Democracy (Poland), National Democracy operating from 1942. During World War II, NSZ troops fought against Nazi Germany and Gwardia Ludowa, c ...
) and worked in an intelligence unit until 1943, when he became a soldier of the
Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...
. In 1944, he fought in the guerrilla movement. He devoted his war prose to this period: a story about the September defeat (Polska Jesień) and guerrilla stories (Buty), in which he critically confronts the legend of the "forest people". War themes were also found in the scripts for Stanisław Różewicz's films (Westerplatte and Wolne miasto). After the war he joined the "
Tygodnik Powszechny ''Tygodnik Powszechny'' (, ''The Common Weekly'') is a Polish Roman Catholic weekly magazine, published in Kraków, which focuses on social, cultural and political issues. It was established in 1945 under the auspices of Cardinal Adam Stefan Sap ...
"; from the years 1947-1953 he was a member of the editorial board. He was the last president of the Association of Polish Writers, dissolved by the martial law authorities (he documented this period in the book Kadencja). He was one of the founders of the Polish Independence Agreement. In 1978, he also signed the founding declaration of the Society of Academic Courses. He translated into Polish, among others, the prose of Conrad and Greene, Bajki murzyńskie. He co-signed the Letter of 59 in 1975 and the letter of intellectuals in defense of the brothers Jerzy and Ryszard Kowalczyk in May 1981. On August 23, 1980, he joined the appeal of 64 scholars, writers and publicists to the communist authorities to start a dialogue with striking workers. He was a keen
tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...
and, in the first years after the war, a
mountaineer Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
. He climbed, for example, with Stanisław Siedlecki (including an attempt to climb the western wall of Łomnica by a new route through Hokejka) and with Krzysztof Tatarkiewicz. Mountaineering, skiing and
Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...
itself appear in several of his books (including Autograf) and in a number of magazine publications. In 1955, he translated John Hunt's book Zdobycie Mount Everestu. His knowledge of the Gorce and Pieniny mountains resulted in the books Portki Odysa and Kipu.


Personal life

In 1947, he married Danuta Wolska. He was the closest friend of the writer Stanisław Lem and godfather of his son Tomasz. He was the prototype of the character Prother in the novel
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. He died on February 20, 2003, in
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
, Poland.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szczepanski, Jan Józef 1919 births Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta Home Army members National Armed Forces members 2003 deaths 20th-century Polish male writers