2021: Celebrating Polish Poets, the Constitution & Sci-Fi Master Stanisław Lem
The year 2021 marks the anniversaries of numerous Polish figures whose enormous contributions to the country’s culture continue to shape it today, among them Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Polish sci-fi genius Stanisław Lem. The Sejm also decided that the upcoming year will celebrate the Constitution of 3rd May 1791.
2021 will commemorate those who bore witness to difficult times and whose literary testimonies have proved invaluable.
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński & the Generation of Columbuses
Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, reproduction by: Andrzej Szypowski / East News Krzysztof Kamil Baczyński, born 1921, is perhaps one of the best-known poets associated with the Generation of Columbuses, a group of Polish writers whose adolescent years coincided with World War II. His first literary contributions consisted of poems he wrote for Arrow (Strzała), a magazine published by the Organization of Socialist Youth Spartakus. During the Nazi German occupation, he published conspiratorial poetry and wrote for magazines issued by the Polish resistance. His poetry, partly inspired by the Romantic tradition, often addressed the war-time reality and the lost, idyllic past.
Baczyński was killed during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944.
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Tadeusz Różewicz and Stasys Eidrigevicius, artist's workshop on Lubelska street, Warsaw, 2006, Janusz Drzewucki
The Sejm emphasised that the year 2021 would not only celebrate Baczyński but rather the entire Generation of Columbuses ‘for their contribution to Polish culture and independence’.
Tadeusz Różewicz, the prolific poet, scriptwriter and playwright, was also often associated with that generation of writers. A World War II survivor, he wrote, as Baczyński did, catastrophic poetry. His early works touch upon an individual’s moral qualms induced by participating in the violence of war. After the war, he became an influential author of plays, strongly inspired by the Theatre of the Absurd. Throughout his career, he depicted the fate of the individual helpless and vulnerable in the face of social and historical forces, exploring, among others, the motif of people’s mutual responsibility for each other. His works have been translated into 49 languages. In 2000, he received the prestigious Nike Literary Award for the collection of texts entitled Mother Departs.
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Stanisław Lem, Kraków, 1971, photo: Jakub Grelowski/PAP
2021 also marks the centenary of the birth of Stanisław Lem, the celebrated author of numerous science-fiction novels and short stories, read and appreciated worldwide. In their 2006 obituary for Lem, The New York Times described his works as concerning ‘the likelihood that mankind could understand a universe in which it was but a speck’. The Sejm wishes to commemorate the author for his ‘insightful ponderings on the contemporary human condition, as well as technological progress and its outcomes’.
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Cyprian Norwid, photo: National Digital Library Polona
Cyprian Kamil Norwid, a late Romantic poet, playwright, sculptor and painter, completes the list of literary figures to be commemorated in 2021. Marginal and having suffered poverty throughout his life, he was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century. Although, as opposed to, Poland’s bard Adam Mickiewicz, he distanced himself from the Messianic vision of Polish identity under the partitions, the renewal of the Polish society constituted one of his key interests. He is to be remembered as a significant contributor to Polish culture, inspired by European tradition, as well as a ‘daring innovator’.
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, source: http://sejm.gov.pl In 2021, 40 years will have passed since the death of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The year also marks the 120th anniversary of his birth. The Sejm wishes to commemorate the cardinal for being a spokesperson for Polish sovereignty, Polish culture, as well as religious liberty under the communist regime. As the legislation states, ‘freedom of the nation constituted a priority in the Primate of the Millenium’s priestly duties and social activism’.
Constitution of 3rd May 1791
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‘Swearing-In of the 3rd May Constitution, 1791’ by Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine, 1867, etching, photo: Wikimedia Commons / National Museum in Warsaw
Finally, it was announced that 2021 will be the year of the Constitution of 3rd May 1791. A unique legislation on the 18th-century political scene, it was the first constitution in Europe and the second worldwide (following the Constitution of the United States). It introduced the tripartite separation of powers, guaranteeing civil liberties and partial political equality of various social classes. The Sejm addresses the legacy of the Constitution, praising the document as a ‘significant element of collective memory’, honouring its creators’ commitment to the wellbeing of the nation and its citizens.
Compiled by AWP, Dec 2020
Sources: sejm.gov.pl, culture.pl, Sisario, Ben. 'Stanislaw Lem, Author of Science Fiction Classics, Is Dead at 84', The New York Times, 28 March 2006
