WIRTUALNA BIBLIOTEKA LITERATURY POLSKIEJ
VIRTUAL LIBRARY OF POLISH LITERATURE

Janusz SZPOTAŃSKI
(14.09.1929 – 13.10.2001)

 

a satirical poet, one of the most interesting figures in the democratic opposition in Post-Yalta Poland. 
Expelled from university during the Stalinist period for his attitude of hostility to the regime, he could not find a place for himself in the world of real socialism and earned a living from temporary jobs (among other things as a chess instructor).
He gained fame and popularity in 1964 through his satirical „opera”  Cisi i Gęgacze (The Quiet Ones and the Gabblers), which made fun of communist Poland and the political police, and through his own readings of it at private gatherings. It cost him 3 years of prison. After his release he published a number of further political satires: Caryca i zwierciadło (The Tsarina and the Mirror), Towarzysz Szmaciak (Comrade Szmaciak), and Szmaciak w mundurze (Szmaciak in Uniform). He was not politically active, confining himself to literary activity, but in spite of this he was considered a enemy of the regime and subjected to continuing harassment and persecution. Among these was his internment during the period of martial law.
He was rehabilitated after the transition to democracy in 1989.

 

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OPRACOWANIE: MAREK ADAMIEC