Jerzy Turowicz (; 10 December 1912 – 27 January 1999) was a leading

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Catholic

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and editor for much of the post-

Second World War 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 opposin ...

period. He was editor of the Catholic weekly ''

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 1945 until his death in 1999, except for three years in the early 1950s.

Early life and education

Turowicz was born on 10 December 1912 in

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 ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, the son of Klotylda (Turnau) and August Turowicz, a judge. In 1930, he joined a

Catholic youth organization Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) is an international Catholic youth movement founded by Bishop Bernard Sheil in Chicago in 1930. It would become a major factor in the development of race relations in the US Catholic Church following World War ...

, called ''Rebirth''. He graduated from

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

in 1939 with a degree in philosophy.

Career and activities

Turowicz was appointed chief editor of ''Głos Narodu'' in 1939. During World War II, he worked in the underground journals. In 1945, he became editor of the Catholic weekly ''

'', which he also cofounded. It was financed by Adam Sapieha,

Archbishop of Kraków The Archbishop of Kraków is the head of the archdiocese of Kraków. A bishop of Kraków first came into existence when the diocese was created in 1000; it was promoted to an archdiocese on 28 October 1925. Due to Kraków's role as Poland's politic ...

. However, there is another report, arguing that Sapieha was loosely related to the weekly. Turowicz made his career there, through all the changes in the political and social nature of the country. He served as the editor of the weekly until his death in 1999, with only a three-year interruption from 1953 to 1956. The reason for this interruption was the refusal of Turowicz to publish an obituary for

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. During this period the weekly was under the control of the communist regime and the editor was Jan Piwowarczyk. In 1956, Turowicz both returned to his editorial post and was made a member of the Sejm, Polish Parliament, along with other

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

figures. In 1964 he was one of the signatories of the so-called

Letter of 34 ''Letter of 34'' – two-sentence protest letter of Polish intellectuals against censorship in Communist Poland, addressed to the Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, delivered on 14 March 1964 to by Antoni Słonimski. The name refers to the numb ...

to Prime Minister

Józef Cyrankiewicz Józef Adam Zygmunt Cyrankiewicz (; 23 April 1911 – 20 January 1989) was a Polish Socialist (PPS) and after 1948 Communist politician. He served as premier of the Polish People's Republic between 1947 and 1952, and again for 16 years between ...

regarding freedom of culture. He was a member of the Round Table negotiations during the Polish revolution in 1989, leading to the fall of communist regime in the country. Turowicz's articles published in various dailies and other publications were compiled and published by the Znak publishing house in 1963, in 1990 and in 1999.

Personal life and death

In 1938, Turowicz married Anna Gąsiorowska and they had three daughters, one of whom is the

psycholinguist Psycholinguistics or psychology of language is the study of the interrelation between linguistic factors and psychological aspects. The discipline is mainly concerned with the mechanisms by which language is processed and represented in the mind ...

Magdalena Smoczyńska. He died of a heart attack in Kraków on 27 January 1999. His grandson is Polish-American cinematographer Lukasz Jogalla and his great-grandson is American actor

Pico Alexander Alexander Lukasz Jogalla (born June 3, 1991), known professionally as Pico Alexander, is an American actor. Personal life Alexander Lukasz Jogalla was born in New York City, New York, and raised in Park Slope, Brooklyn. His parents, Magdalena D ...

Legacy and awards

In 1995, Turowicz was awarded the Order of the White Eagle, the highest state award of Poland and silver Kraków service medal. In 1998, Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz produced the documentary, ''Ordinary Kindness'' (''Zwyczajna dobroć''), telling the story of Turowicz. On 10 December 2012, the 100th anniversary of Turowicz's birth, a plaque in honor of him was unveiled in Kraków. A street in Kraków is named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turowicz, Jerzy 1912 births 1999 deaths Journalists from Kraków Jagiellonian University alumni Polish Roman Catholics Members of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland Polish Round Table Talks participants Recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)