Kazimierz Wyka (19 March 1910 – 19 January 1975) was a Polish literary historian, literary critic, and professor at the Jagiellonian University in

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

following World War II. He was a deputy to the Polish parliament (

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of ...

) from 1952 to 1956 during the era of Stalinism in Poland.

Life

Wyka was a son of a small sawmill owner, born and raised in

Krzeszowice Krzeszowice (german: 1941-45 Kressendorf) is a town in southern Poland, situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship. As of 2004, its population was 9,993. Krzeszowice belongs to ''Kraków Metropolitan Area'', and lies 25 kilometers west of the ...

. He studied at the Jagiellonian University and during the

occupation of Poland Occupation commonly refers to: * Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, t ...

by Nazi Germany remained safely with the family in his small town. He became active politically only after the Soviet takeover, and obtained a position of a professor at his Alma mater in 1948. In 1952 Wyka co-founded and run the

Polish–Soviet Friendship Society The Polish–Soviet Friendship Society () was a Polish organisation founded in 1944. It was a vehicle for organized propaganda, like the celebration of anniversaries of the October Revolution, trips to the Soviet Union, exchange programs, promo ...

(''Towarzystwo Przyjaźni Polsko-Radzieckiej''), a cover for the direct Soviet propaganda in Poland, which enabled him to also remain Member of Parliament in 1952–56 before the collapse of Stalinism during the

Polish October Polish October (), also known as October 1956, Polish thaw, or Gomułka's thaw, marked a change in the politics of Poland in the second half of 1956. Some social scientists term it the Polish October Revolution, which was less dramatic than the ...

. Notably Wyka signed the so-called "

Letter of 34 ''Letter of 34'' – two-sentence protest letter of Polish intellectuals against censorship in Communist Poland, addressed to the Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz, delivered on 14 March 1964 to by Antoni Słonimski. The name refers to the numb ...

" ''(List 34)'' against censorship, delivered in March 1964 to

Council of Ministers (Poland) The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland ( Polish: ''Rada Ministrów Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej'') is the collective executive decision-making body of the Polish government. The cabinet consists of the Prime minister, also known as the Cha ...

and than passed on to

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

.Jerzy Eisler, ''List 34'',

Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN (''Polish Scientific Publishers PWN''; until 1991 ''Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe'' - ''National Scientific Publishers PWN'', PWN) is a Polish book publisher, founded in 1951, when it split from the Wydawnictwa Szkolne i ...

, Warszawa 1993, . However, the resulting uproar in the communist party circles prompted Wyka to sign a counter letter against it, claiming that the

Radio Free Europe Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

spreads false information about the Soviet repressions in Poland, which in its own right was an obscene lie, wrote Norman Davies.Davies, N. ''Europe at War'' Pan Books . Page 195. Wyka was one of only two men who strategically withdrew their names from the original list to save their own jobs at the last moment. In 1980, the president (mayor) of Kraków established the commemorative Kazimierz Wyka Award in the field of literary criticism,

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

, and

history of literature The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry that attempt to provide entertainment, enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as well as the development of the literary techniques ...

. The award was given annually.

References

External links

Family home of K. Wyka in Krzeszowice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyka, Kazimierz 1910 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Polish historians Polish male non-fiction writers Polish literary critics Members of the Polish Sejm 1952–1956 Academic staff of Jagiellonian University Burials at Salwator Cemetery Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland)