Paweł Jasienica

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Paweł Jasienica
Stefan Batory University
Genrehistory
SubjectPolish history
Notable worksPiast Poland, Jagiellonian Poland, The Commonwealth of Both Nations
Signature

Paweł Jasienica was the pen name of Leon Lech Beynar (10 November 1909 – 19 August 1970), a Polish historian, journalist, essayist and soldier.

During

Jagiellon Dynasty, and the elected kings of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
. Those books, still popular, played an important role in popularizing Polish history among several generations of readers.

Jasienica became an outspoken critic of the

censorship in the People's Republic of Poland
, and as a notable dissident, he was persecuted by the government. He was subject to significant invigilation (oversight) by the security services, and his second wife was in fact an agent of the communist secret police. For a brief period marking the end of his life, his books were prohibited from being distributed or printed.

Life

Youth

Beynar was born on 10 November 1909 in

Russian Revolution of 1917, after which they decided to settle in the independent Poland.[3] After a brief stay in Warsaw, during the Polish–Soviet War, his family settled in Opatów, and in 1924, moved to Grodno.[2]

Beynar graduated from

Polish Army.[2] From 1928 to 1937 he lived in Grodno, where he worked as a history teacher in a gymnasium; later he was employed as an announcer for Polish Radio Wilno.[1][2][3] Here also, Beynar embarked on his career as author and essayist, writing for a Vilnius conservative newspaper, Słowo (The Word).[1] On 11 November 1934 he married Władysława Adamowicz, and in 1938 his daughter Ewa was born.[2] In 1935 he published his first history book – about King Sigismund II Augustus, Zygmunt August na ziemiach dawnego Wielkiego Księstwa (Sigismund Augustus on the Lands of the Former Grand Duchy [of Lithuania]).[1]

World War II

During

Wolność i Niezawisłość (WiN, Freedom and Independence). He was promoted to the rank of captain.[1][3][4][5] Wounded in August 1945, he left the Brigade before it was destroyed by the Soviets, and avoided the fate of most of its officers who were sentenced to death.[5][7] While recovering from his wounds, he found shelter in the village of Jasienica.[1][7]

Post-war

After recovering from his wounds in 1945, Beynar decided to leave the resistance, and instead began publishing in an independent Catholic weekly

Słowo Powszechne, Życie Warszawy, Po Prostu.[3] From at least this period until his death he would live in Warsaw.[2] His wife Władysława died 29 March 1965.[2]

Over time, he became increasingly involved in various dissident organizations.

Kingdom of Poland in the times of the Piast dynasty, the Jagiellonian dynasty, and the era of elected kings (the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth).[1][9] His book on Jagiellonian Poland was recognized as the best book of the year by the readers.[2]

Jasienica's grave, Powązki Cemetery, Warsaw
A plaque dedicated to Jasienica on the house at 75 Dąbrowski Street in Warsaw, where he lived after the war

Jasienica was, however, very outspoken in his criticism of the

censorship in the People's Republic of Poland. On 29 February 1968 during a ZLP meeting, Jasienia presented a harsh critique of the government.[2] These acts, and in particular his signing of the dissident Letter of 34 in 1964 against censorship and his involvement in the 1968 protests led to his being labeled a political dissident, for which he suffered government persecution.[1][2][4][5][10] Partly as a response to government's persecution of Jasienica, in 1968 the satirist Janusz Szpotański dedicated one of his anti-government poems, Ballada o Łupaszce (The Ballad of Łupaszko), written while Szpotański was in Mokotów Prison, to the writer.[11] In the aftermath of the 1968 events, Polish communist media, and communist leader, Władysław Gomułka, on 19 March 1968, alleged that in 1948 Jasienica was freed because he collaborated with the communist regime; this allegation caused much controversy and damaged Jasienica's reputation.[2][3][4][5][10] He was subject to much invigilation (oversight) by the security services.[1] In December 1969, five years after his first wife's death, he remarried. This marriage proved to be highly controversial as it was discovered after his death that his second wife, Zofia Darowska O’Bretenny, had been a secret police informant before their marriage, and continued to write reports about him throughout their marriage.[7][12][13] From 1968 until his death, his books were prohibited from being distributed or printed.[1][3][10]

Jasienica died from cancer[10] on 19 August 1970 in Warsaw. Some publicists later speculated to what extent his death was caused by "hounding from the party establishment".[14] He is buried in Warsaw's Powązki Cemetery.[2] His funeral was attended by many dissidents and became a political manifestation; Adam Michnik recalls seeing Antoni Słonimski, Stefan Kisielewski, Stanisław Stomma, Jerzy Andrzejewski, Jan Józef Lipski and Władysław Bartoszewski.[10] Bohdan Cywiński read a letter from Antoni Gołubiew.[2][10]

Work

Jasienica book publishing begun with a historical book, Zygmunt August na ziemiach dawnego Wielkiego Księstwa (Sigismund Augustus in the lands of the former Grand Duchy; 1935). He is best known for his highly acclaimed

Marxist historiography would have on his works. This was also one of the reasons for the popularity of his works, which were seen as a rare, legally obtainable alternative to the official version of history.[1][16][17][18] His books, publication of which resumed once again after his death, were labeled as "best-selling", and became the most reprinted postwar history of Poland.[17][18]

His Dwie drogi (Two ways, 1959) about the

Anna Jagiellonka. His Rozważania o wojnie domowej (1978; Thoughts on Civil War) were the last book he has finished; unlike the majority of his other works, this book is ostensibly about the civil war (Chouannerie) in Brittany, France. This work does however contains numerous arguments applicable to more modern Polish history; arguments that Jasienica thought would not be allowed by the censors if the book discussed Polish history.[10]

In addition to historical books, Jasienica, wrote a series of essays about archeology – Słowiański rodowód (Slavic genealogy; 1961) and Archeologia na wyrywki. Reportaże (Archeological excerpts: reports; 1956), journalistic travel reports (Wisła pożegna zaścianek, Kraj Nad Jangtse) and science and technology (Opowieści o żywej materii, Zakotwiczeni). Those works were mostly created around the 1950s and 1960s.

His Pamiętnik (Memoirs) was the work that he began shortly before his death, and that was never completely finished.

In 2006, Polish journalist and former dissident Adam Michnik said that:

I belong to the generation '68, a generation that has special debt to Paweł Jasienica – in fact he paid with his life for daring to defend us, the youth. I want for somebody to be able to write, at some point, that in my generation there were people who stayed true to his message. Those who never forgot about his beautiful life, his wise and brave books, his terrible tragedy.[10]

Polish historian Henryk Samsonowicz echoes Michnik's essay in his introduction to a recent (2008) edition of Trzej kronikarze, describing Jasienica as a person who did much to popularize Polish history.[19] Hungarian historian Balázs Trencsényi notes that "Jasienica's impact of the formation of the popular interpretation of Polish history is hard to overestimate".[16] British historian Norman Davies, himself an author of a popular account of Polish history (God's Playground), notes that Jasienica, while more of "a historical writer than an academic historian", had "formidable talents", gained "much popularity" and that his works would find no equals in the time of communist Poland.[18] Samsonowicz notes that Jasienica "was a brave writer", going against prevailing system, and willing to propose new hypotheses and reinterpret history in innovative ways.[19] Michnik notes how Jasienica was willing to write about Polish mistakes, for example in the treatment of Cossacks.[10] Ukrainian historian Stephen Velychenko also positively commented on Jasienica's extensive coverage of the Polish-Ukrainian history.[17] Both Michnik and Samsonowicz note how Jasienica's works contain hidden messages in which Jasienica discusses more contemporary history, such as in his Rozważania....[10][19][20]

Bibliography

Several of Jasienica's books have been translated into English by Alexander Jordan and published by the American Institute of Polish Culture, based in Miami, Florida.

Awards

Medals:
  • Order of Polonia Restituta, Grand Cross, awarded on 3 May 2007 (posthumously)[19]
  • Order of Polonia Restituta, Knight's Cross, awarded on 22 July 1956
  • Polish Ministry of Defense
    in 1967
  • Home Army Cross
    , awarded in 1967 in London
Awards:
  • 2007 laureate of Poland's "Custodian of National Memory" Prize.[21]

See also

References

  1. ^
    Instytut Pamięci Narodowej. 2007. Archived
    from the original on 6 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Gadkowska, Aleksandra Gromek (2 March 2011). "Paweł Jasienica" (in Polish). Archived from the original on 16 August 2011.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Żbikowski, Zbigniew (14 April 2001). "Kapitan martwej armii: Paweł Jasienica". Życie (in Polish). Archived from the original on 20 March 2012.
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8101-2203-1
    .
  5. ^ a b c d e f g "Prawa autorskie po Jasienicy tylko dla jego córki". Gazeta (in Polish). PAP (Polish Press Agency). 28 December 2006. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
  6. ^ a b c Sierocińska, Gabriela (2 December 2008). "Paweł Jasienica" (in Polish). Polskie Radio. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011.
  7. ^ a b c d e Kowalik, Helena. "Ubeckie donosy z sypialni" (in Polish). Helena Kowalik. Archived from the original on 6 February 2017.
  8. ^ "Klub Krzywego Koła – trybuna inteligencji czy barometr władzy?" (in Polish). Polskie Radio. 5 January 2015. Archived from the original on 30 June 2015.
  9. ISBN 978-0-86516-245-7
    . Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Michnik, Adam (19 August 2005). "Michnik o Jasienicy: pisarz w obcęgach". Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 1 March 2010.
  11. ^ (in Polish) Szpotański, Janusz Ballada o Łupaszce. Retrieved 6 February 2017
  12. ^ Jezierski, Piotr. "Uwieść Jasienicę". Historia (in Polish). Polskie Radio. Archived from the original on 13 April 2009.
  13. ^ Łazarewicz, Cezary (12 March 2010). "Nesia wszystko doniesie" [Nesia will report everything]. Polityka (in Polish). Archived from the original on 7 August 2011.
  14. ISBN 978-0-520-26923-1
    . Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  15. ISBN 978-0-691-11306-7
    . Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-963-7326-85-1
    . Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  17. ^
    ISBN 978-0-312-08552-0
    . Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  18. ^
    ISBN 978-0-231-12817-9
    .
  19. ^ a b c d e (in Polish) Samsonowicz, Henryk Wstęp, in Paweł Jasienica, Trzej kronikarze, 2008 edition
  20. ISBN 978-83-01-14227-8
    . Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  21. ^ (in Polish) Rok 2007 – Uroczystość wręczenia Nagrody Kustosz Pamięci Narodowej, ipn.gov.pl. Retrieved 18 April 2011.

Further reading

 Polish Wikiquote has quotations related to: Paweł Jasienica

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