"Red Plague" ( pl, "Czerwona Zaraza") is a Polish poem, written in 1944 by
Józef Szczepański, a
World War II–era poet, who died during the
Warsaw Uprising. "Red Plague" inspired Polish
Oscar-winning film director
Andrzej Wajda to create the movie ''
Kanał
''Kanał'' (, ''Sewer'') is a 1957 Polish film directed by Andrzej Wajda. It was the first film made about the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, telling the story of a company of Home Army resistance fighters escaping the Nazi onslaught through the city's ...
''. The poem, which described the failed hopes of Warsaw insurgents that the
Red Army would save them, was banned in the
People's Republic of 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 ...
due to its
anti-Soviet context; during the
Joseph Stalin era the very possession of it was punishable by imprisonment.
Szczepanski wrote it on August 29, 1944, just a few days before his death (he died on September 10).
The author expressed his anger at the Red Army, telling the tale of desperation, of being brought to a point that the only way to save anything from this total ruin that engulfed Poland (with the Battle of Warsaw being the backdrop and an end game for Polish resistance fighters who made that last stand) was to surrender Poland to their worst, eternal and most despised of the enemies, one that could have helped but chose not to, one that was responsible for the majority of historical calamities that have befallen Poland, the source of all evil and darkness, a place that takes, never gives, a giant succubus that drained the Polish peoples' soul, sapped their spirit and feasted upon Poland's rotting carcass for centuries).
Red Army units, which were positioned on the eastern bank of the
Vistula, did not help the insurgents:
We are waiting for you, red plague... you will be salvation welcomed with revulsion... we are waiting for you, our eternal enemy... bloody murderer of so many of our brethren.... Your red, victorious army has been lying at the bright feet of burning Warsaw and is feeding its soul with bloody pain of a handful of madmen who are dying in the ruins.
"Red Plague" was recorded by
De Press on their album ''Myśmy Rebelianci'' in 2009.
''Myśmy Rebelianci''
on the band's official page Excerpts of the poem were used by a Polish rock band, Lao Che, in its ''Warsaw Uprising'' album (in the song "'' Czerniakow'').
See also
* Polish literature
References
{{Reflist
External links
Full text of the poem (in Polish)
Polish poems
1944 in Poland
1944 poems