Objects

Adam Ważyk, 1972

Gierałtowski, Krzysztof (1938- )

Adam Ważyk (1905–1982) – poet, prose writer, essayist, translator. Varsovian. He has always been associated with the capital, its cultural and literary life, just like his older brothers: Saul Wagman, translator and editor of the daily Nasz Przegląd, and Leon Trystan, director. Before the war, he lived off film reviews written for Nasz Przegląd. He published two volumes of poetry (Semafory (Semaphores), 1924; Oczy i usta (Eyes and lips), 1926), in which he was inspired by the works of the French poets Apollinaire and Max Jacob, and several novels.

Ważyk spent World War II first in Lviv (1939–1941) and later in the Soviet Union, where he became a member of the Union of Polish Patriots and a political officer in the 1st Polish Army. In 1943, in Moscow, he published a volume of poetry, Heart of a Pomegranate, which included moving poems for his wife, the painter Gizela Szejnman-Ważyk (1912–1943), who remained under German occupation.

This supporter of socialist realism, consistently following the line of the Polish United Workers' Party, in 1955 published Poemat dla doroslych (Poem for Adults), which became a symbol of the retreat from Stalinism and a harbinger of October 1956. After the Thaw, Ważyk did not return to politics (although in 1964 he signed List 34 (Letter 34), in 1968 he protested against the repression of students, and in 1980 joined the appeal of 64 scholars, writers and journalists to the communist authorities to engage in dialogue with the striking workers). He published volumes of poetry, published a memoir Kwestia gustu (Matter of Taste) (1966), and translated Latin, French and Russian poetry (he is the author of a complete translation of Eugene Onegin).

In Krzysztof Gierałtowski’s photo from 1972 in the office library apartment at Aleja Róż in Warsaw, we no longer see a political activist but an old poet.

Renata Piątkowska

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Information about the object
Author / creator
Gierałtowski, Krzysztof (1938- )
Object type
photography
Time of creation / dating
21st century
Place of creation
Warszawa (mazovian province)
Technique
black-and-white photograph
Material
photographic print paper
Keywords
Copyright status
contact the Museum
Owner
POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews
Identification number
MPOLIN-M748
Localization
The object is not currently on display