Jerzy Andrzejewski (; 19 August 1909 – 19 April 1983) was a prolific Polish writer. His works confront controversial moral issues such as betrayal, the Jews and Auschwitz in the wartime. His novels, ''

Ashes and Diamonds ''Ashes and Diamonds'' ( Polish original: ''Popiół i diament'', literally: ''Ash and Diamond'') is a 1948 novel by the Polish writer Jerzy Andrzejewski. The story takes place during the last few days of World War II in Europe, and describes th ...

'' (about the immediate post-war situation in Poland), and ''

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

'' (treating the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising; pl, powstanie w getcie warszawskim; german: link=no, Aufstand im Warschauer Ghetto was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany' ...

), have been made into film adaptations by the Oscar-winning Polish director

Andrzej Wajda Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of the ...

. ''Holy Week'' and ''Ashes and Diamonds'' have both been translated into English. His novel ''The Gates of Paradise'' was translated into English by

James Kirkup James Harold Kirkup, FRSL (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote over 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha ...

and published by

Panther Books Panther Books Ltd was a British publishing house especially active in the 1950s and 1960s, specialising in paperback fiction. It was established in May 1952 by Hamilton's Ltd and titles carried the line "A Panther Book" or "Panther Science Ficti ...

with the anglicised spelling "George Andrzeyevski".

Life and career

Born in Warsaw in 1909, Andrzejewski studied

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

at the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields o ...

in the Second Polish Republic. In 1932 he debuted in ''ABC Magazine'' with his first short story entitled ''Wobec czyjegoś życia''. In 1936 he published a full collection of short stories called ''Drogi nieuniknione'', in ''Biblioteka Prosto z mostu'', and soon received broad recognition for his new, Catholic-inspired novel ''Ład serca'' from 1938. During World War II he was involved in efforts to aid the Jewish refugees. His short novel ''Holy Week'' (1945) has been described as "arguably the first literary attempt to examine the behavior of Poles facing the Holocaust". Immediately after World War II, Andrzejewski published the volume ''Night'' (''Noc'', 1945) and his most famous novel so far, ''

'' (''Popiół i diament'', 1948). Having joined the

Polish United Workers' Party The Polish United Workers' Party ( pl, Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza; ), commonly abbreviated to PZPR, was the communist party which ruled the Polish People's Republic as a one-party state from 1948 to 1989. The PZPR had led two other lega ...

(PZPR) in 1950, he left the party after the 1956

Polish October Polish October (), also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the politics of Poland in the second half of 1956. Some social scientists term it the Polish October Revolution, which was less dramatic than the ...

protests and riots.Oscar E. Swan
''Holy Week: a novel of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising By Jerzy Andrzejewski''
with biographical notes, and photographs. ''Ohio University Press'', 2007. After the suppression of the Prague Spring, in which Polish troops participated, Andrzejewski wrote a letter of apology to Eduard Goldstücker, the chairman of the Czechoslovak Writers Union. 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. In 1976 Andrzejewski was one of the founding members of the intellectual opposition group KOR (''

Workers' Defence Committee The Workers' Defense Committee ( pl, Komitet Obrony Robotników , KOR) was a Polish civil society group that was established to give aid to prisoners and their families after the June 1976 protests and ensuing government crackdown. KOR was an exam ...

''). Later, Andrzejewski was a strong supporter of Poland's anti-Communist Solidarity movement. Andrzejewski was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. Although he was frequently considered a front-runner for the

Nobel Prize for Literature ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , caption = , awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature , presenter = Swedish Academy , holder = Annie Ernaux (2022) , location = Stockholm, Sweden , year = 1901 , ...

, he never received the honor. His purported

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

in his later years may have hindered his literary output, thus preventing him from ever becoming a true moral authority. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

in Warsaw in 1983.

Legacy

Andrzejewski's wartime writings, which inspired the Anti-Nazi

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, 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) est ...

, and in turn his post-war work as a propagandist for Stalinism in Poland are analyzed in

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz (, also , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. Regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century, he won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature. In its citation, ...

's ''

The Captive Mind ''The Captive Mind'' ( Polish: ''Zniewolony umysł'') is a 1953 work of nonfiction by Polish writer, poet, academic and Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz. It was first published in English in a translation by Jane Zielonko in 1953. Overview ''T ...

''. In that book, Miłosz refers to Andrzejewski only as "Alpha." According to Miłosz, Andrzejewski's writing is "sainted and supercilious," and other poets and writers in postwar Poland considered him a "respectable prostitute." On 23 September 2006, Jerzy Andrzejewski was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award - an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication – material published after the author's death * ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1987 * ''Posthumous'' (E ...

awarded the Commander's Cross of the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta ( pl, Order Odrodzenia Polski, en, Order of Restored Poland) is a Polish state order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on foreigners for outstanding achievement ...

by Polish President

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he pre ...

List of works

*'' Unavoidable Roads'' (''Drogi nieuniknione'', 1936), a collection of short stories *'' Mode of the Heart'' (''Ład serca'', 1938), first novel, winner of the Polish Academy of Literature award *''Night'' (''Noc'', 1945) featuring ''Holy Week'' *''

'' (''Popiół i diament'', 1948),Polish literature in English translation.
''20th century Polish literature'', at ''roadrunner.com. film version won Critics' Prize at 1959

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...

*'' The Inquisitors'' (''Ciemności kryją ziemię'', 1957, tr. 1960) *'' An Effective War'' (''Wojna skuteczna, czyli Opis bitew i potyczek z Zadufkami'', 1953), stalinist feel-good story *'' The Gates of Paradise'' (''Bramy raju'', 1960), novel notable for being written almost without punctuation, in two sentences *'' A Sitter for a Satyr'' (''Idzie skacząc po górach'', 1963) published in the United Kingdom as ''He Cometh Leaping upon the Mountain'' ''(and others)''

References

External links

* C Tighe. ''Jerzy Andrzejewski: life and times''. Journal of European Studies, Vol. 25, 1995

Jerzy Andrzejewski (1909–1983)
''University of Glasgow'' College of Arts. Slavonic studies. * , at ''www.pisarzepolscy.cpo.pl''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrzejewski, Jerzy 1909 births 1983 deaths Writers from Warsaw Gay writers Members of the Workers' Defence Committee People from Warsaw Governorate Polish people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust Polish United Workers' Party members Members of the Polish Sejm 1952–1956 LGBT writers from Poland Polish male novelists LGBT politicians from Poland Polish male short story writers Polish short story writers University of Warsaw alumni Commanders of the Order of Polonia Restituta Recipients of the Order of the Banner of Work Burials at Powązki Cemetery 20th-century Polish novelists 20th-century short story writers 20th-century LGBT people

Life and career

Legacy

List of works

Further reading

References

External links