Information about Wanda Wasilewska

Wanda Wasilewska (1905– 1964) was a Polish novelist and politician. She played an important role in the formation of communist government in Poland. After World War II she lived in Moscow.

Biography

Wanda Wasilewska was born on 25 January 1905 in Galicia to Polish Socialist Party politician Leon Wasilewski. She studied philosophy at the Warsaw University and Polish language and Polish literature at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. After she graduated she remained at her alma mater and passed her doctorate exams in 1927. While studying she started cooperation with the Union of Socialist Youth and Society of Workers' Universities.

Soon after she finished her studies she started working as a school teacher and a journalist for various left-wing newspapers, among them "Naprzód", "Robotnik", "Dziennik Popularny" and "Oblicze Dnia". She also became the chairperson of the "Płomyk" and "Płomyczek" monthlies for children, where she introduced Soviet propaganda. Although she was often criticised for her radical left-wing opinions, she joined the PPS instead of the communist party, where she was soon promoted to a member of the main party council. In her early political career she supported an alliance of all the left-wing parties with the communists against the ruling Sanacja. She was also an active supporter of many strikes in Poland. During one of the demonstrations in Kraków she met Marian Bogatko, whom she later married.

After the Polish defeat in the Polish Defensive War of 1939 and the partition of Poland into Soviet and German occupied zones, she moved to Lwów where she accepted Soviet citizenship. She became a member of various communist organisations uniting local Polish and Ukrainian communists. She was also a journalist for the Czerwony Sztandar (Red Banner), a Soviet propaganda newspaper issued in Polish language. In early 1940, Joseph Stalin awarded a seat in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. She also became the head person of the Dramatic Theatre in Lwów. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union she moved further eastwards and joined the Red Army as a war correspondent and a functionary of Political Commandment (Politupravleniye) of the Red Army. She held the military rank of a colonel [1]. She was also one of the founders (together with Jerzy Putrament) of the "Nowe Widnokręgi" monthly.

After consultations with Stalin (and most probably by his direct order) she became the head of the newly-formed Związek Patriotów Polskich (Society of Polish Patriots), a Soviet-created provisional government that was to control Poland. In 1944 she also became the deputy chief of the PKWN (Polish Committee of National Liberation), another provisional government which was also sponsored by the Soviet Union and opposing the Polish government in exile as the legal government of Poland. She favoured the incorporation of Poland as a republic of the Soviet Union.

After most of Poland was liberated by the Red Army she decided to stay in the Soviet Union. It is said that she feared the reaction of the Polish society to her deeds in the 1939-1941 period. She also became involved in a relationship with Ukrainian poet Oleksandr Korniychuk, with whom she moved to Kiev.

Although both her Russian and Ukrainian language abilities were very limited, she remained a member of the Supreme Soviet for several decades. She did not return to public life, however. She died on July 29, 1964 in Kiev. She is buried in the Baykovo cemetery.

She was triple recipient of the Stalin prize for literature (1943, 1946, 1952). During the life of Joseph Stalin she was considered a classic writer of Soviet literature and her works were included into the school curriculum throughout the Soviet Union, but she was almost completely forgotten after his death [2].

Works

Wanda Wasilewska was one of the first Polish writers to follow the rules of Socialist Realism. She wrote several novels and a fistful of poems. The government in Poland named countless streets and schools after her and she was one of the most notable figures in the communist society. Some of her books were obligatory at school after the war.

• "Królewski syn" (1933)
• "Oblicze dnia" (1934)
• "Kryształowa Kula Krzysztofa Kolumba" (1934)
• "Ojczyzna" (1935)
• "Legenda o Janie z Kolna" (1936)
• "Płomień na bagnach" (1940)
• "Pieśń nad Wodami" (a trilogy: 1940, 1950, 1952)
• "Tęcza" (1944)
• "Po prostu miłość" (1945)
• "Gwiazdy w jeziorze" (1950)
• "Rzeki płoną" (1952)
• "Pokój na poddaszu" (1954)
• "Że padliście w boju" (1958)