Miron Bialoszewski (1922–1983)

Miron Białoszewski, born in Warsaw, was a high school student at the outbreak of World War II. He went on to study linguistics in secret at the clandestine courses of the University of Warsaw. On August 1, 1944, he went out to run an errand for his mother and ran into the Warsaw Uprising. With the Red Army arriving the outskirts of the city, Warsaw had erupted into revolt against the Nazis, but was ultimately defeated. He was sent to a forced labor camp but survived and returned to Warsaw at the end of the war. He worked at the Main Post Office and then as a journalist for a number of newspapers and popular magazines, some of them for children. In 1955, he co-founded a small experimental theatre, Teatr na Tarczyńskiej, at which he produced and acted in his plays, including Wiwisekcja and Osmędeusze. He also became one of Poland's most innovative poets. In 1970, he published his acclaimed memoir, Pamiętnik z powstania warszawskiego (Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising). He followed with several novels, including Donosy rzeczywistości (Denunciations of Reality, 1973), Szumy, zlepy, ciągi (Rustlings, Lumps and Pathways, 1976), Zawał (Heart Attack, 1977) and Rozkurz (Wasted, 1980). Obmapywanie Europy (Mapping Europe) and AAAmeryka, published posthumously, provide descriptions of his travels across Europe and the USA. He lived for many years with the painter Leszek Soliński.