Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński (1921-1944)

                                                 Poet of the Warsaw Uprising 1944

                                        

The poetry of World War 2 varies in significance from country to country. Polish independence after World War 1 encouraged a new wave of Polish literature.CULTURE.PL (2)  A group of poets emerged in time to be caught up in the 1939 occupation of Poland by the Wehrmacht in the west and the Soviet Union in the east, coming under total German control once Operation Barbarossa was launched on 30th June 1941. 

Amongst these poets was  Wladyslaw Szlengel, killed during the 1943  Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto. The mass deportations of  Warsaw Jews to their death at Treblinka had started the year before. Those who remained in the Ghetto rebelled to make a desperate last stand. 

In the Summer of 1944 the Western Allies had landed in France, and were marching on Paris.  The Soviet Armies were driving into Eastern Europe. Both Paris and Warsaw rose in rebellion in August 1944. However, the Soviets hesitated to realise the potential created by the Polish rebel Home Army turning on the German oppressors,even though a joint Soviet- Polish operation to drive the Wehrmacht out of Warsaw would greatly assist the progress westwards. The Soviets also hampered British and US attempts to fly supplies to the parts of Warsaw held by the insurgents. Certainly there is a strong case to suggest that Stalin was content to see the Polish Home Army greatly weakened in order to establish Soviet control over a post-war Poland.DAVIES, McKEEN, MILTON

The 1944 Warsaw Uprising saw Tadeusz Gajey, Waclau Bojarski, Andrzaj Trzebiaski, all three poets born in 1922,and Leon Stroinski born 1921,take up arms, and lose their lives. CULTURAL.PL(2)  Jerzy Ficowski and Anna Swirszcyriska,usually known as Anna Swir, took part, and wrote poetry about their experiences. GEORGE.  Czeslaw Milosz, originally from Lithuania though later to become a leading Polish language poet, lived in Warsaw from 1940 onwards. Milosz assisted the Underground though did  not take part in the 1944 Uprising. Zbignieuw Herbert, who was to become another major Polish poet, also helped the Warsaw rebels, but not as a combatant, in 1944. It is fair to say that literary opposition to the Occupation played their part in building resistance within the City with poets and artists placing their lives at risk. 

 Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński is denoted by Desmond Graham as 'Poland's main 'war poet'' in his anthology 'Poetry of the Second World War'.GRAHAM  Born in Warsaw in 1921, and entered the literary Left milieu at quite an early age. During the occupation -with colleges and university, Baczyński studied at underground educational establishments and edited a  clandestine left wing publication. He assisted the literary bureau of the Polish Home Army and in 1943 joined their ranks as a soldier. In July of that year he became Deputy Commander of 3rd platoon of the of the 3rd Company of the 'Parasol' battalion. CULTURAL.PL (1) 

Editions of poems from the years 1940-1944:

• Zamkniętym echem (Closed Echo), Warsaw 1940 – 7 copies
• Dwie miłości (Two Loves), Warsaw 1940 – 7 copies
• Modlitwa (Prayer), Warsaw 1942 – 3 copies
• Wiersze wybrane (Chosen Poems), Warsaw 1942 (pseudonym: Jan Bugaj)
• Arkusz poetycki Nr.1 (Poetical Sheet No. 1), Warsaw 1944 (pseudonym: Jan Bugaj)
• Śpiew z pożogi (Singing from the Conflagration), Warsaw 1944 (pseudonym: 2nd Lt Piotr Smugosz)

CULTURAL.PL (1) 

On 3rd June 1942  Baczyński married a student called Barbara Drabcynska, who inspired him to write love poetry. He also studied art, and developed some skill as an illustrator.  On 1st August 1944, when the Warsaw Uprising broke out, he gave a collection of his drawings and poetry to a friend. On 4th August 1944 Baczyński, now armed and taking part in the Uprising, was killed by a German sniper at the Theatre Square in Warsaw. His wife Barbara had also taken part in the fighting, and was killed three weeks later. They were later buried together at  Powazki military cemetery in Warsaw.POLISH POETS UNITES 

One poem by Baczyński  that has recently emerged on the All Poetry website-translated into English is 'Elegy for a Polish Boy' . 

Elegy For A Polish Boy

They've taken you, my son, from your dreams and like a butterfly
they've embroidered you, my son. Your sad eyes bleed ore.
They painted landscapes, yellow-stitched, in horror and gore,
they adorned a hanged man like a tree, the sea's waves to ply.

They taught you, my son, your land and its ways by heart
and by its footpaths you sob iron shards for tears.
They tuned you in darkness, fed you in loaves of terror.
You tread, groping through to dark, the road of fear.

And you ascended at night, my golden son, with a black gun
you perceived in the passing of a minute-bristling evil's thirst.
Before you fell, you hailed the earth with your hand,
did it soften your fall, my sweet child, did the heart burst?

English language translations of Baczyński's poetry have appeared in a few collections and are referenced in Norman Davies's ' 'Rising' 44- The Battle for Warsaw'. In 2004 'White Magic and Other Poems ' by 

 Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, translated by Bill Johnson, appeared. Now extremely hard to get hold of. 

A Melody

Who'll give me back my musings
and the shadow that left after you?
Ah, these days like animals' murmur,
like plants are they - ever younger.

And before long - such little ones,
on a nutshell standing,
we'll sail against the seasons
as if to spite water rings.

The red of blood will be dreamt childishly
as puffed-out cheeks of a cherry.

The metal of storms will be discovered again
through a foamy blow-ball's head.

While the thunder of tears like an avalanche of stones
into little green beetles will change,
thus bending down to the water by turns
we'll incautiously sail to oblivion;
left behind by us on earth
only our shadows shall cry.

Hopefully a new English language edition of the work of Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński will emerge soon. 

All Poetry  Some Baczyński Poems translated into English 

Culture.PL biography  (1)  Baczyński biog.

Culture.PL page about Warsaw Uprising looking at the literary connection (2) 

Polish Cultural Institute (New York) POLISH POETS UNITE feature on Baczyński (English language) 

Krystof Kamil Baczynski  -Poet Soldier of the Home Army, Warsaw ( Youtube video biography, Polish with English subtitles,accessed on 9th January 2025) 

Other related posts from this blog.

Leon Stroinski (Poet of the Warsaw Uprising)  from 2019 

Wladyslaw Szlengel (Poet of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) 

BOOKS

'Rising'44 -The Battle for Warsaw' , Norman DAVIES, Pan Books, 2004

'Contemporary East European Poetry-An Anthology' ,Edited by Emery GEORGE, Oxford University Press, 1983

'Poetry of the Second World War -An International Anthology' Desmond GRAHAM, Pimlico, 1999.

'Stalin's War', Sean McKEEKIN, Allen Lane, 2021 

'The Stalin Affair- The Impossible Alliance That Won The War' , Giles MILTON, John Murrary, 2024

Pictures

Image of  Baczyński and the memorial plaque marking the scene of his death, in public domain courtesy of 'Wikipedia'. 

Other blogs and contact 

Other blogs :

Bleak Chesney Wold   19th century history & literature blog

A Burnt Ship                17th century history warfare & literature blog 

Contact: Michael Bully     World War 2 Poetry@mail.com   ( please ram words together without spaces) 

Please note that any errors or schoolboy howlers in the above piece are the responsibility of this writer, and not to be attributed to the sources that have been cited. 

Michael Bully

Brighton,  England, 17th January 2025.