Julian Stryjkowski

Julian Stryjkowski (born Pesach Stark; April 27, 1905 – August 8, 1996) was a Polish journalist and writer, known for his social prose and radical leftist leanings. He was considered one of the best Polish-Jewish writers of the

He returned to Poland in 1946 and became the head of the Katowice branch of the Polish Press Agency. Between 1949 and 1952, he headed that agency's bureau in Rome. However, he was deported from Italy after having published a strongly anti-capitalist novel about the fate of Italian landless peasants. Upon his return to Poland he started working as the head of prose division of Twórczość, a weekly devoted to modern literature. He held that post until his retirement in 1978. Initially strongly devoted to Communism, in 1966 he quit the Polish United Workers' Party in protest against the Communists' suppression of art, science and culture, along with other notable Polish writers of the time. Following this, he had to wait until 1978 before the censorship allowed his novels to appear in print again. He died on August 8, 1996, in Warsaw.

Personal life

Stryjkowski was gay, and came out at the age of 88.^[2]

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