Melchior Wańkowicz (10 January 1892 – 10 September 1974) was a Polish army officer, popular writer, political journalist and publisher. He is most famous for his reporting for the

Polish Armed Forces in the West The Polish Armed Forces in the West () refers to the Polish Armed Forces, Polish military formations formed to fight alongside the Allies of World War II, Western Allies against Nazi Germany and its Axis powers, allies during World War II. Poli ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and writing a book about the

battle of Monte Cassino The Battle of Monte Cassino, also known as the Battle for Rome, was a series of four military assaults by the Allies of World War II, Allies against Nazi Germany, German forces in Kingdom of Italy, Italy during the Italian Campaign (World War ...

Biography

Melchior Wańkowicz was born on 10 January 1892 in Kalużyce in the

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

of the

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, now Kolyuzhitsa, Byerazino Raion, Minsk Region, Belarus. He attended school in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, then the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

, which he graduated from in 1922. An activist in the Polish independence movement, he was an officer in the Riflemen Union (Związek Strzelecki). During the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he fought in the

Polish I Corps in Russia 1st Polish Corps in Russia (; ) was a military formation formed on 24 July 1917 in Minsk from Polish and Lithuanian personnel serving in the Western and Northern Fronts of the Russian Army. In the chaotic period at the end of World War I on ...

under General Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki. After the war he worked as a journalist, for a time working as a chief of the press department in the Polish Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1926 he founded a publishing agency, "Rój". He also worked in the advertising business, coining a popular slogan for the product advertisement of sugar – "cukier krzepi" (Sugar Invigorates). He wrote three books during the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

, all of them gaining him increasing fame and popularity. A few decades later he coined another famous slogan – "LOTem bliżej" ("closer with LOT"), advertising the Polish LOT airlines. After the

German invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

he lived for a while in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, where he wrote about the events of the Polish September. Later, from 1943 to 1946 he undertook what would be perhaps his most famous endeavour – he became a war correspondent for the

. Later he wrote an account of the

, his most famous book. One of his daughters, Krystyna Wańkowicz, died as a member of Polish resistance

Armia Krajowa The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

during the

Warsaw uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

in 1944. From 1949 to 1958 he lived in the United States, afterwards returning to communist Poland. He opposed the communist regime, writing and lecturing about the Polish Forces in the West (whose participation was minimized by the government, which tried to emphasize the role of the Soviet-aligned Berling Army). His most known work is a three tome book about the

, a tribute to the soldiers of the Anders Army – a book that was published in Poland only in a shortened, censored form (until the fall of communism in 1990). After he cosigned the letter of 34 in 1964, protesting against the censorship, he was repressed by the government – the publication of his works was prohibited, and he was himself arrested, charged with

slander Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making wikt:asserti ...

of Poland"A Symptom"
TIME, Friday, 20 November 1964 and "spreading anti-Polish propaganda abroad" (partially due to the publication of some of his works by

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

,Melchior Wańkowicz
, biography in "Tworzywo", an online monthly of Wyższa Szkoła Dziennikarska im. Melchiora Wańkowicza but the chief evidence was a private letter to his daughter living in the USA) and sentenced to three years of imprisonment. However the sentence was never executed, and he was rehabilitated in 1990, after the fall of communism in Poland. Melchior Wankowicz monument

Wańkowicz died on 10 September 1974 in Warsaw.

Works

*''Anoda-katoda'' *''Bitwa o Monte Cassino'' (t. 1–3 1945–47) *''C.O.P – ognisko siły'' (1938) *''Czerwień i Amarant'' *''De profundis'' *''Drogą do Urzędowa'' (1955) *''Dwie prawdy'' (połączone w jednym wydaniu dwie rzeczy: "Hubalczycy" i "Westerplatte") *''Dzieje rodziny Korzeniewskich'' *''Hubalczycy'' (1959) *''Karafka La Fontaine'a'' (t. 1 1972, t. 2 pośm. 1980) *''Kaźń Mikołaja II '' *''Klub trzeciego miejsca'' (1949) *''Kundlizm'' (1947) *''Monte Cassino'' (skróc. wyd. krajowe ''Bitwy o Monte Cassino'', 1957) *''Na tropach Smętka'' (1936) *''Od Stołpców po Kair'' (1969) *''Opierzona rewolucja'' (1934) *''Polacy i Ameryka'' *''Prosto od krowy'' (1965) *''Przez cztery klimaty 1912–1972'' (1972) *''Reportaże zagraniczne'' *''Strzępy epopei'' *''Szczenięce lata'' (1934) *''Szkice spod Monte Cassino'' (1969) *''Szpital w Cichiniczach'' (1925) *'' Sztafeta'' (1939) *''Tędy i owędy'' (1961) *''Tworzywo'' (Nowy Jork 1954, wyd. kraj. 1960) *''W kościołach Meksyku'' (1927) *''W ślady Kolumba'' (cz. 1 ''Atlantyk-Pacyfik'' 1967, cz. 2 ''Królik i oceany'' 1968, cz. 3 ''W pępku Ameryki'' 1969) *''Walczący Gryf'' (1963) *''Westerplatte'' (1959) *''Wojna i pióro'' (1974) *'' Wrzesień żagwiący'' (1947) *''Ziele na kraterze'' (1951, wyd. krajowe 1957) *''Zupa na gwoździu'' (1967, wyd. 3 pt. ''Zupa na gwoździu – doprawiona'' 1972) Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm has written introductions, footnotes, etc., to: * Melchior Wankowicz, ''Reportaze zagraniczne'' (Reportage from Abroad), Kraków, 1981, * Series: ''Dziela emigracyjne i przedwojenne Melchiora Wankowicza'' (8 titles), Warsaw, 1989–1995 * ''Korespondencja Krystyny i Melchiora Wankowiczow'' (Correspondence between Krystyna and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 1992, * Jerzy Giedroyc and Melchior Wankowicz, ''Listy 1945–1963'' (Series: ''Archiwum Kultury''; correspondence between Jerzy Giedroyc and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 2000, * ''King i Krolik. Korespondencja Zofii i Melchiora Wankowiczow'' (correspondence between Zofia and Melchior Wankowicz), Warsaw, 2004, 2 Volumes, ; . *'' Series: Dziela Wszystkie Melchiora Wankowicza, 16 volumes, Warsaw, 2009–2011

Legacy

A private journalism school on '' ulica Nowy Świat'' in

, the Higher School of Journalism, founded in 1995, is named after Wańkowic

Notes

References

*Mieczyslaw Kurzyna, ''O Wańkowiczu nie wszystko'', Warsaw, 1975 *Krzysztof Kakolewski, ''Wańkowicz krzepi'', Warsaw, 1977 * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Blisko Wańkowicza'' (Near Wańkowicz), Kraków, 1975, 1978, 1988, * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Z miejsca na miejsce'' (From Place to Place), Kraków, 1983, Warsaw, 1986, 1997, * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Na tropach Wańkowicza'', Warsaw, 1989, 1999, * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Process M. Wańkowicza 1964 roku'' (The 1964 Trial of M. Wańkowicz), Warsaw, 1990, * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Na tropach Wańkowicza po latach'' n the Trail of Wańkowicz, after Many Years Warsaw, 2009. . Se

* Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm: ''Wokół Wańkowicza'',(Around Wańkowicz), Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 2019. * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm,
Melchior Wańkowicz: Poland’s Master of the Written Word
', Lanham, MD 2013, Se

. * Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm, ''Wokół Wańkowicza'' (Around Wankowicz), Warsaw, PIW 2019,

External links

Correspondences between Wańkowicz and
Jerzy Giedroyc '' Sarmatian Review'' September 1999 *Boguslaw Wlodawiec
Melchior Wankowicz

MELCHIOR WAŃKOWICZ
culture.pl

Gazeta Wyborcza (; ''The Electoral Gazette'' in English) is a Polish nationwide daily newspaper based in Warsaw, Poland. It was launched on 8 May 1989 on the basis of the Polish Round Table Agreement and as a press organ of the Solidarity (Polish trade union), t ...

, 2004-12-22
Melchior Wańkowicz
biography in "Tworzywo", an online monthly of Wyższa Szkoła Dziennikarska im. Melchiora Wańkowicza

in Encyklopedia WIEM {{DEFAULTSORT:Wankowicz, Melchior 1892 births 1974 deaths People from Byerazino district People from Igumensky Uyezd Polish publishers (people) Polish non-fiction writers Polish male non-fiction writers Polish I Corps in Russia personnel Polish people of World War II Burials at Powązki Cemetery 20th-century Polish journalists People associated with Kultura (magazine)