Janusz Majewski, notable film director and screenwriter, divided his novel into three parts, each one with a different sphere. The first, Słodkie lata / Sweet summer, is a description of a carefree childhood of Ludwik Taschke in prewar Lvov. The second one, Trzy wojny / Three wars, brings the definitive end to the bucolic tale. Through the eyes of a sensitive boy, we observe the atrocity of the two occupants, the Soviet attack in September 1939 and then the Germans in June 1941 and finally again the Soviets in July 1944. The third part, Mała matura 1947 / Little Baccalaureate 1947, describes the history of the absconding from Lvov, the wandering of the family, devoided of any property and sentenced to exile.
The journey ends with the end of the war. Ludwik goes to a reputable school in Kraków which has a pre-war staff of professors. The Latin teacher introduces the new "repatriate" student from Lvov, with a comment:
This is what I would want you to notice: think about it whether you can actually call someone a repatriate who came from another city but from the same country? If he did not come voluntarily, if he was forced against his will, he is rather a refugee, fugitivus, profugus...
Ludwik's little baccalaureate will take place in a completely different reality. Before this happens, "on June 13th, 1946 the whole country took part in a '3 razy tak' / 'yes times 3' referendum what was, as later proved and at the time said, an absolute farce, rigged in advance under the supervision of the Soviet propaganda specialists".
The novel itself is not maintained in great dramatic tension, although the author does not abstain from descriptions of ominous actions of the new government. However, the perspective is completely different, this degraded world is not observed by the intellectuals aware of the heinousness of the situation but by young people willing to fully live their lives however it may be. These teenage high school students make friends with eachother, experience first love, fascinations and erotic anquish. They go through adventures which sometimes happen to be comically and grotesque at the same time, like the not quite successful youth expedition, harassed by a storm of hormones to the cheap shrine of paid pleasures. They have dreams and plans for the future and before them the difficult test of maturity of living in difficult times.
During a math exam in Spring 1947, the boys of class IV B learn that their old colleague, a member of the Warsaw Uprising, was sentenced to death at show trial. He was accused of "setting up and directing a criminal organization which purpose was hostile activity against the authorities". The young people worry with horror but this is just a prelude of what was soon to come.
It is hard not to recall a quotation at this point. Czesław Miłosz reminisces the post-war atmosphere in Prywatne obowiązki" / "Private Responsibilities:
One day I was walking down the street with Anna Kowalska in Kraków and she began talking about everything that is happening, sobbing until she grabbed me and was shaking from crying, my whole shirt was wet, I tried to comfort her alone without any argument or consolation. It was a cry of pure mercy, charity. The truth about 1945, about the misfortune of the country, was a hastily assembled authority apparatus was fromed from a group of thugs and hoodlums, that has never been told instead was covered up by fabrications and fairy tales.
Janusz Majewski's (born in Lvov, 1931) book is mostly autobiographical but at the same time, as the author emphasizes in an interview with Maria Kieszkowska, a somewhat creation, "From my own experience and memories, from authentic events I created a story about a world seen from my own eyes, yet a little deformed. It's a reflection of reality but not its copy".
Losy Ludwika i jego rodziny" / "The History of Louis and His Family", adds the author of "Little Baccalaureate" / "Mała matura", "is the story of all the exiled. I felt the need to write down what I experienced and saw with my own eyes. More than a need, I felt it was my duty. After all I am one of the last witnesses of that time. Today, people whose parents still were in their diapers back then, write about these times with great confidence. (Publisher's press materials)
Particular warmth is brought back with memories from high school in Krakow. The whole school menagerie, a few unique eccentrics and originals, along with "Syfon" the class math teacher are described with great sentiment.
Based on the last part of the book, Janusz Majewski made the film Mała matura 1947" / "Little Baccalaureate 1947 (was honored the special jury award at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, 2010) featuring many eminent actors; the character of Professor "Syfon" was portrayed by Wiktor Zborowski and at the directors request, the Latin teacher was played by Marek Kondrat, even though he officially ended his acting career in 2007.
Author: Elżbieta Sawicka, November 2010.
- Janusz Majewski
Mała matura / Little Baccalaureate
Wydawnictwo Marginesy, Warszawa 2010
Graphic design: Anna Pol
150 x 215, 448 ss., hard cover
ISBN: 9788392843115
www.marginesy.com.pl