Polish Literature - World War II

World War II

In the years of German and Soviet occupation of Poland, all artistic life was dramatically compromised. Cultural institutions were lost. The environment was chaotic, and the writers scattered: some found themselves in concentration and labor camps (or Nazi-era ghettos), others were deported out of the country; some emigrated (Tuwim, Wierzyński), many more joined the ranks of Polish underground resistance movement (Baczyński, Borowski, Gajcy). All literary outlets were forced to cease operation. Writers who remained at home began organizing literary life in conspiracy including lectures, evenings of poetry, and secret meetings in the homes of writers and art facilitators. Polish cities where such meetings were held most frequently were: Warsaw, Kraków and Lwów. Writers participated in setting-up of the underground presses (out of 1,500 clandestine publications in Poland about 200 were devoted to literature). Many fought in the Polish army in exile or resisted Holocaust in a civil capacity. The generation of the Kolumbs born around 1920 were active during the Warsaw Uprising. Best-known representatives of the war years are:

Zofia Nałkowska (1884–1954), Medallions Melchior Wańkowicz (1892–1974), Bitwa o Monte Cassino Krystyna Krahelska (1914–1944) Gustaw Herling-Grudziński (1919–2000), A World Apart: Memoir Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński (1921–1944) Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–)

Tadeusz Gajcy (1922–1944) Miron Białoszewski (1922–1983) Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951), This Way for the Gas... Wisława Szymborska (1923–2012), Zbigniew Herbert (1924–1998) Jerzy Ficowski (1924–2006)

See also: Polish literature during World War II and Sztuka i Naród