
Stanisław Jerzy Lec (; 6 March 1909 – 7 May 1966), born
Baron Stanisław Jerzy de Tusch-Letz, was a
Polish
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 ...
aphorist
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...
and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...
. Often mentioned among the greatest writers of
post-war Poland, he was one of the most influential aphorists of the 20th century, known for
lyric poetry
Modern lyric poetry is a formal type of poetry which expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in the first person.
It is not equivalent to song lyrics, though song lyrics are often in the lyric mode, and it is also ''not'' equi ...
and
skeptical
Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the pe ...
philosophical-moral
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by t ...
s, often with a political
subtext
Subtext is any content of a creative work, which is not announced explicitly (by characters or author), but is implicit, or becomes something understood by the audience. Subtext has been used historically to imply controversial subjects without ...
.
Biography

Son of the Baron Benon de Tusch-Letz and Adela Safrin, he was born on 6 March 1909 in
Lwów
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 ...
(then Lemberg,
Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with t ...
, now Lviv) to a Jewish
nobilitated family.
[Stanisław Jerzy Lec" (in English) on the Wirtualny Sztetl porta]
(read online).
The family moved to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
at the onset of
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
, and Lec received his early education there. After the war the family returned to Lwów in the
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of the First World ...
. Lec attended the Lemberg Evangelical School. In 1927 he matriculated at Lwów's
Jan Kazimierz University
The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
in Polish language and law.
His literary debut was in 1929.
[ Much of his early work was lyric poetry appearing in left-wing and communist magazines.][ He collaborated with the communist “''Dziennik Popularny''" between 1933 and 1936.][ In 1935 he co-founded the satirical magazine '']Szpilki
''Szpilki'' was a Polish satirical magazine. It was established in 1936 by a group of leftist literary people, including Eryk Lipiński, , and (chief editor).J. Łojek, J. Myśliński, W. Władyka, ''Dzieje prasy polskiej'', Warszawa 1988, p. 103, ...
'' (Pins).[ A "literary cabaret" he founded in Lwów in collaboration with ]Leon Pasternak
Leon Pasternak (1910-1969) was a Polish poet and satirist. His Jewish family came to Poland in the 1880s from the town of Tula, Russia, which was outside the Jewish Pale of Settlement, where Jews usually were not allowed to reside.
Pasternak was ...
in 1936 was closed by the authorities after several performances.[ Nor did his law-abiding image improve after he took part in the Convention of Culture Workers, a radical congress initiated by the international communist movement ]Popular Front
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".
More generally, it is "a coalitio ...
in the same year.[ Later that year he spent a few months in ]Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...
, afraid that his activism could lead to his arrest in Poland.[ He spent the next two years in ]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 official ...
, where he was involved with a number of other left-leaning publications.[
Following the ]German invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...
on 1 September 1939, Lec fled Warsaw, returning to his hometown, Lwów.[ Lec spent the years 19391941 there, while the city along with the rest of Polish ]Eastern Borderlands
Eastern Borderlands ( pl, Kresy Wschodnie) or simply Borderlands ( pl, Kresy, ) was a term coined for the eastern part of the Second Polish Republic during the History of Poland (1918–1939), interwar period (1918–1939). Largely agricultural ...
was occupied by the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
after the Soviet invasion of Poland
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...
on 17 September 1939. While in the Soviet Union, Lec joined in the literary life under the auspices of Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
authorities. He contributed to the magazine “New Horizons”. His poems, satires, articles, and translations from Russian were published in ”Krasnoe Znamya” magazine. In 1940 he joined the Union of Soviet Writers
The Union of Soviet Writers, USSR Union of Writers, or Soviet Union of Writers (russian: Союз писателей СССР, translit=Soyuz Sovetstikh Pisatelei) was a creative union of professional writers in the Soviet Union. It was founded ...
of Ukraine and became a member of the editorial board of “The Literary Almanac” in Lwów. Through this and similar activities he became one of the most prolific pro-Soviet Polish writers, producing numerous works praising the Soviet regime, including the first poem about Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
written in the Polish language
Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In add ...
(''Stalin'', "''Czerwony Sztandar''", 5 December 1939). A number of his works appeared in the '' Czerwony Sztandar'' (Red Banner) newspaper. On 19 November 1939 Lec signed a resolution calling for the incorporation of Polish Eastern Borderlands into the territory of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. Lec's collaboration with the Soviet authorities remains controversial to this day, though he has been defended by Adam Michnik
Adam Michnik (; born 17 October 1946) is a Polish historian, essayist, former dissident, public intellectual, and editor-in-chief of the Polish newspaper, ''Gazeta Wyborcza''.
Reared in a family of committed communists, Michnik became an opponen ...
who wrote in his 2007 book that Lec has been unfairly branded by critical opinion as a "Soviet collaborator" on the basis of his "weakest, least successful, or most frankly conformist pieces".
After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union he was imprisoned in a German work camp in Tarnopol
Ternópil ( uk, Тернопіль, Ternopil' ; pl, Tarnopol; yi, טאַרנאָפּל, Tarnopl, or ; he, טארנופול (טַרְנוֹפּוֹל), Tarnopol; german: Tarnopol) is a city in the west of Ukraine. Administratively, Ternopi ...
(now Ternopil),[ from which he made several attempts to escape. He received a death sentence for his second attempt to escape, but managed to successfully escape in 1943. In his autobiography he described his escape as having taken place after he killed his guard with a shovel when taken to dig his own grave. This became the subject of one of his most famous poems "He who had dug his own grave" (from the cycle "To Abel and Cain"):]
He who had dug his own grave
looks attentively
at the gravedigger's work,
but not pedantically:
for this one
digs a grave
not for himself.
After his escape he participated in partisan warfare
A partisan is a member of an irregular military force formed to oppose control of an area by a foreign power or by an army of occupation by some kind of insurgent activity.
The term can apply to the field element of resistance movements. The ...
within the communist formations of Polish resistance (the Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa (; People's Guard) or GL was a communist underground armed organization created by the communist Polish Workers' Party in German occupied Poland, with sponsorship from the Soviet Union. Formed in early 1942, within a short time G ...
and the Armia Ludowa
People's Army (Polish: ''Armia Ludowa'' , abbriv.: AL) was a communist Soviet-backed partisan force set up by the communist Polish Workers' Party ('PR) during World War II. It was created on the order of the Polish State National Council on 1 J ...
),[ and eventually served in regular units of ]Polish People's Army
The Polish People's Army ( pl, Ludowe Wojsko Polskie , LWP) constituted the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in 1943–1945, and in 1945–1989 the armed forces of the Polish communist state ( from 1952, the Polish Pe ...
until the end of the war, which he finished with the rank of major. He also edited the communist resistance underground newsletter ''Żołnierz w Boju'' (Soldier in Combat) and the communist magazine ''Wolny Lud'' (Free Nation).[
Lec's wartime service allowed him to obtain a diplomatic post as a cultural attaché in Vienna.][ Becoming disillusioned with the Communist government, he left for ]Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1950 with his wife, son and daughter. Lec couldn't adapt to the life in Israel and returned to Poland with his son after two years there.[ His wife and daughter remained in Israel. He moved to a small town in which he had been in the underground during the war, and remarried there before returning to Warsaw. At first he worked as a translator,][ as the Polish communist authorities had taken away his right to write or publish until the late 1950s. He was immensely popular, and despite the anti-communist and anti-totalitarian themes of his later works, he was given an official state funeral in Warsaw when he died on 7 May 1966.][ That year, he was awarded the Officer Cross of the Order Polonia Restituta.][
/ref> (the ]Gwardia Ludowa
Gwardia Ludowa (; People's Guard) or GL was a communist underground armed organization created by the communist Polish Workers' Party in German occupied Poland, with sponsorship from the Soviet Union. Formed in early 1942, within a short time G ...
and the Armia Ludowa
People's Army (Polish: ''Armia Ludowa'' , abbriv.: AL) was a communist Soviet-backed partisan force set up by the communist Polish Workers' Party ('PR) during World War II. It was created on the order of the Polish State National Council on 1 J ...
),
Works
Lec's early works were primarily lyrical poetry. In his later years, he became known for aphorisms and epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...
s.[ He was influenced by religious (Jewish and Christian) as well as European cultural traditions.][ In his works he often modernized ancient messages, while preserving their universality.][ His notable poems such as ''Notatnik polowy'' (Field Notebook; 1946), ''Rękopis Jerozolimski'' (The Jerusalem Manuscript; 1950–1952, reedited in 1956 and 1957), and ''Do Kaina i Abla'' (To Cain and Abel; 1961) had a theme of exploring the world through irony, melancholy, and nostalgia.][ His later works, usually very short (aphorisms), through techniques such as wordplay, paradox, nonsense, abstract humor, and didacticism convey philosophical thoughts through single phrases and sentences.][ Collections of Lec’s aphorisms and epigrams include ''Z tysiąca jednej fraszki'' (From a Thousand and One Trifles; 1959), ''Fraszkobranie ''(Gathering Trifles; 1967); and ''Myśli nieuczesane'' (Unkempt Thoughts; 1957, followed by sequels in 1964 and 1966).][
His work has been translated into a number of languages, including English, German, Slovak, Dutch, Italian, Serbian, Croatian, Swedish, Czech, Finnish, Bulgarian, Russian, Romanian and Spanish.][
]
Family
Lec was married twice, first with Elżbieta Rusiewicz, with whom he had a son Jan (1949) and a daughter Małgorzata (1950), and second with Krystyna Świętońska, with whom he had a son Tomasz.[Томаш Лєц: «Я ще пам'ятаю, як батько водив мене у каф�]
Жорж
» (відео) /
LB.ua, 6.IV.2012 04:20
Main works
* ''Barwy'', poems (1933)
* ''Spacer cynika'', satire and epigrams (1946)
* ''Notatnik polowy'', poems (1946)
* ''Życie jest fraszką'', satire and epigrams (1948)
* ''Nowe wiersze'' (1950)
* ''Rękopis jerozolimski'' (1956)
* ''Unkempt Thoughts'' (''Myśli nieuczesane'') (1957)
* ''Z tysiąca i jednej fraszki'' (1959)
* ''Kpię i pytam o drogę'' (1959)
* ''Do Abla i Kaina'' (1961)
* ''List gończy'' (1963)
* ''More Unkempt Thoughts'' (''Myśli nieuczesane nowe'') (1964)
* ''Poema gotowe do skoku'' (1964)
* ''Fraszkobranie'' (1966)
References
Bibliography
*Mirosław Nowakowski, ''Lexical Expectations: Lexical Operations in "Myśli nieuczesane" (Unkempt thoughts)'', Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
, The Adam Mickiewicz University, 1986.
*Jacek Trznadel
Jacek is a Polish given name of Greek origin related Hyacinth, through the archaic form of ''Jacenty''. Its closely related equivalents are: Jacinto (Spanish and Portuguese), Giacinto (Italian), Jácint ( Hungarian) and Jacint (Catalan, shortened ...
, ''Kolaboranci: Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński i grupa komunistycznych pisarzy we Lwowie, 19391941'' ("The Collaborators"), Komorów, Fundacja Pomocy Antyk/Wydawnictwo Antyk Marcin Dybowski, 1998. .
*''PolskaUkraina: trudna odpowiedź: dokumentacja spotkań historyków (19942001): kronika wydarzeń na Wołyniu i w Galicji Wschodniej (19391945)'', ed. R. Niedzielko, 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 official ...
, Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych entral Directorate of State Archives& Ośrodek Karta, 2003. , .
*Karl Dedecius
Karl Dedecius (20 May 1921 in Łódź – 26 February 2016) was a Polish-born German translator of Polish literature, Polish and Russian literature. , ''Stanisław Jerzy Lec: Pole, Jew, European'', tr. & ed. M. Jacobs, Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
, The Judaica Foundation/Center for Jewish Culture, 2004. . (Bilingual edition: text in Polish and English.)
*Marta Kijowska, ''Die Tinte ist ein Zündstoff: Stanisław Jerzy Lec der Meister des unfrisierten Denkens'', Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, Carl Hanser, 2009. . (See esp. pp. 43ff.)
*Dorota Szczęśniak, "Jewish Inspirations in the Literary Work of Stanisław Jerzy Lec"; in: ''Poles & Jews: History, Culture, Education'', ed. M. Misztal & P. Trojański, Kraków
Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 159 ...
, Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Pedagogicznego, 2011. .
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lec, Stanislaw Jerzy
1909 births
1966 deaths
20th-century Polish male writers
20th-century Polish poets
Aphorists
Armia Ludowa members
Barons of Poland
Collaborators with the Soviet Union
Cultural attachés
Epigrammatists
Home Army members
Jewish concentration camp survivors
Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)
People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Polish expatriates in Austria
Polish expatriates in Israel
Polish expatriates in the Soviet Union
Polish poets
Polish satirists
Writers from Lviv