Lucjan Szenwald (; 13 March 1909 – 22 August 1944) was a

Polish poet List of poets who have written much of their poetry in Polish. See also Discussion Page for additional poets not listed here. There have been five Polish-language Nobel Prize laureates in literature: Henryk Sienkiewicz, Władysław Reymont, ...

and communist activist. He first made his appearance as a member of the

Skamander Skamander was a Polish group of experimental poets founded in 1918 by Julian Tuwim, Antoni Słonimski, Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz, Kazimierz Wierzyński and Jan Lechoń. Initially unnamed, in December 1919 it adopted the name ''Skamander'', af ...

group with the poem "Przybierający księżyc" (A Primping Moon). However he was generally associated with a different literary group - the "Kwadryga" - which differentiated itself from the Skamanders by emphasizing the role of social problems in aesthetics. He was an editor of the weekly "Na przełaj" (Through the fields) which was a subsidiary of the main organ of the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland ( pl, Komunistyczna Partia Polski, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland a ...

newspaper Lewar. In 1930 he was an active member of the youth organization of the Polish Communists and by 1932 of the party itself. Between 1938 and 1939 he was arrested three times for communist activity (at the time, both the far right and the far left political parties were banned in Poland). After the break out of

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 ...

he wound up in Kovel and later in

Lwow 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 ...

. In both places he enthusiastically collaborated with the Soviet occupiers. In Lwow he worked in the Lwow Soviet Radio where he was in charge of translating

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

poets, particularly

Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...

into Polish. In 1941 he joined 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 ...

. For unknown reasons by 1943 he wound up in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

in workers' battalion. He took active part in helping to form the Soviet affiliated

Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division 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 ...

. He eventually became the official diarist of the division. He participated in the

Battle of Lenino The Battle of Lenino was a tactical World War II engagement that took place on 12 and 13 October 1943, north of the village of Lenino in the Mogilev region of Byelorussia. The battle itself was a part of a larger Soviet Spas-Demensk offensi ...

. He died in a car accident,Szenwald, Lucjan at Encyklopedia PWN (in Polish).
/ref> although a different version blames Soviet soldiers for his death - he was shot after he refused to exit the car he was sitting in. His poems were both

Classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and romantic in style. He also translated major works of English and Russian literature. He was the author of the lyrics to the popular satyrical song "Long Live War!", popularized by

Stanisław Grzesiuk Stanisław Grzesiuk (; 6 May 1918, Małków, Łęczna County – 21 January 1963) was a Polish writer, poet, singer, and comedian. He is notable as one of the few public figures to use and promote the singing style and dialect of pre-war Wars ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Szenwald, Lucjan 1909 births 1944 deaths Writers from Warsaw People from Warsaw Governorate Burials at Powązki Military Cemetery Polish communists 20th-century Polish poets 20th-century Polish male writers Road incident deaths in Poland