Igor Newerly or Igor Abramow-Newerly (24 March 1903,

Białowieża Białowieża ( be, Белавежа, Biełavieža) is a village (population 2,000 as of 2002) in Poland's Podlasie Province, in the middle of the Białowieża Forest, to which it gave its name. The village is some east of Hajnówka and southe ...

– 19 October 1987,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland) 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 ...

and educator. He was born into a Czech-Russian family. His son is Polish novelist Jarosław Abramow-Newerly. His grandfather Józef Newerly, was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

national, who held a title of ''Lovtchiy'' (russian: Ловчий, pl, Łowczy: " Master of the Hunt") to the court of

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...

. Igor Newerly lost one leg as a child. He studied law at

Kiev University Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

but he was relegated for political reasons, arrested and sent to Odessa. In 1924 he emigrated illegally to the newly independent Poland and was active in the field of pedagogy in Warsaw. He worked together with the renowned educator

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ...

, and in 1926 became his secretary. From 1932 to 1939 Newerly worked for ''Mały Przegląd'' (''Little Review''). He married Barbara Jarecka. Under the Nazi German occupation of Poland Newerly was a member of the Polish resistance. He helped

at his Orphanage and saved his diary of martyrdom. He also hid from

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

persecution several of his Jewish colleagues from '' Nasz Przegląd'' daily – among them Kuba Hersztein – and transported Lejzor Czarnobroda to Warsaw after he escaped from the train to

Treblinka Treblinka () was an extermination camp, built and operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland during World War II. It was in a forest north-east of Warsaw, south of the village of Treblinka in what is now the Masovian Voivodeship. The cam ...

and broke his leg. Newerly was arrested at the beginning of 1943 by the German

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one orga ...

and imprisoned at

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 ...

in Warsaw. Until the end of the war he was an

inmate A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as con ...

Majdanek Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had seven gas chambers, two wooden gallows, a ...

, Auschwitz,

Oranienburg Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel. Geography Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin. Division of the town Oranienburg ...

and

Bergen Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentr ...

where he was liberated.

March of the Living The March of the Living ( he, מצעד החיים, ) is an annual educational program which brings students from around the world to Poland, where they explore the remnants of the Holocaust. On Holocaust Memorial Day observed in the Jewish cale ...

International
"The Warsaw Ghetto"
After the war in 1945, he resumed a pedagogical career. Based on Newerly's novel ''Pamiątka z Celulozy'' (''A Souvenir from the Cellulose Mill''), the Polish director

Jerzy Kawalerowicz Jerzy Franciszek Kawalerowicz (19 January 1922 – 27 December 2007) was a Polish film director and politician, having been a member of Polish United Workers' Party from 1954 until its dissolution in 1990 and a deputy in Polish parliament since ...

made two films: '' Celuloza'' (''Cellulose Mill'') and '' Pod gwiazdą frygijską'' (''Under the Phrygian Star''). His son is Jarosław Abramow-Newerly, a writer.

Works

*''Chłopiec z Salskich Stepów'' 1948 *''Archipelag ludzi odzyskanych'' 1950 *''Pamiątka z Celulozy'' 1952 *''Leśne morze'' 1960 *''Żywe wiązanie'' 1966 *''Rozmowa w sadzie piątego sierpnia'', Warszawa, Czytelnik 1978 *''Za Opiwardą, za siódmą rzeką...'', Warszawa, Czytelnik, , 1985 *''Wzgórze błękitnego snu'', Warszawa, Czytelnik, , 1986 *''Zostało z uczty bogów'', Paryż, Instytut Literacki, , 1986

Film screen-plays

*'' Król Maciuś I'', 1957 *'' Pod gwiazdą frygijską'' *'' Celuloza'', 1953

Notes

Bibliography

* Igor Newerly, ''Zostało z uczty bogów'' * Michał Grynberg, ''Księga Sprawiedliwych (Book of the Righteous)'', Warsaw, PWN, 1993. (ill., ports., 766 pp.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Newerly, Igor 1903 births 1987 deaths Polish schoolteachers 20th-century Polish novelists Polish male novelists Polish resistance members of World War II Polish Righteous Among the Nations Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Majdanek concentration camp survivors Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work People from the Russian Empire of Czech descent Soviet people of Czech descent Polish people of Czech descent Polish people of Russian descent People from Hajnówka County 20th-century Polish male writers Soviet emigrants to Poland Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)