Leon Kruczkowski

Leon Kruczkowski (28 June 1900 – 1 August 1962) was a Polish writer, publicist and public figure. He wrote books and dramas and was prominent in Polish theatre of the post-World War II period. His best known work is the drama Niemcy ('The Germans'), written in 1949.

A left-wing activist before World War II, Kruczkowski spent the war in German prisoner of war camps. After the war, he became active in politics of communist-ruled Poland. He was a deputy minister of culture and art in 1945–1948, member of Polish parliament (Sejm) from 1947 to 1962, and member of the Polish Council of State from 1957. He had significant influence on Polish cultural policies of the period.

Biography Kruczkowski was born on 28 June 1900 in Kraków. While completing his higher education in chemistry and technology at the Higher School of Industry in Kraków, he published his first poems around 1918 and 1919. He moved to the Dąbrowa Basin in 1926. In 1928 he published his first collection of poems, Młoty nad światem ('Hammers over the World'), and in 1932 his first novel, a "peasant response to Juliusz Słowacki's Kordian", entitled Kordian i cham ('Kordian and the Boor').

In 1933 Kruczkowski became a full-time writer, moved back to Kraków and in 1935 wrote his first play, Bohater naszych czasów ('Hero of our Times'). It was rewritten three years later as Przygoda z Vaterlandem ('An Adventure with Vaterland'), both versions notable for their strong critique of Nazism. He wrote two more novels, Pawie pióra ('Peacock Feathers', 1935) and Sidła ('A Trap', 1937). Two of his novels, not finished before the invasion, were lost during World War II. After the war, he resumed his literary career, mainly as a dramatist. Recognized as a major literary figure, Kruczkowski also exerted significant influence on the cultural policy of post-war Poland.

Foreign honours

Works

Młoty nad światem ('Hammers over the World', 1928), poetry anthology Kordian i cham ('Kordian and the Boor', 1932), novel, adapted to theater in 1935 Pawie pióra ('Peacock Feathers', 1935), novel Bohater naszych czasów ('Hero of our Times', 1935), drama, rewritten as Przygoda z Vaterlandem ('An Adventure with Vaterland', 1938) Sidła ('A Trap', 1937), novel Odwety ('Retributions', 1948), drama Niemcy ('The Germans', 1949), drama Juliusz i Ethel ('Julius and Ethel', 1954), drama Odwiedziny ('The Visit', 1955), drama Pierwszy dzień wolności ('The First Day of Freedom', 1959), drama Śmierć gubernatora ('Death of the Governor', 1961), drama Szkice z piekła uczciwych ('Sketches from Hell of the Honest', 1963), short stories anthology https://archive.org/details/leon-kruczkowski-vabaduse-esimene-paev