Adolf Rudnicki, born Aron Hirschhorn (February 19, 1912, Żabno − November 14, 1990, Warsaw) was a Polish author and essayist, best known for his works about

The Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the Jewish resistance in Poland during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Biography

He was born to a

Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...

Jewish family. After attended a trade school, he worked as a bank clerk. His writing career began in 1930 when he published his short novel ''Death of the Operator'' in the current events journal '. He first gained popularity in Poland with his 1930s novels ''The Unloved'' and ''The Rats''. He was captured by the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s during the

invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...

, but managed to escape. After a brief period of service in the Polish Army, he went to

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

and joined the National Jewish Committee. Around 1942, he returned to Warsaw and was active in the underground. He joined the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

in 1944 and took part in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

. After the war, he published the novels ''The Golden Windows'' and ''The Merchant of Lodz'', and the short story collection ''Epoch of the Ovens'', all concerning the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the Jewish resistance. The widely used term "epoka pieców" (Age of the Stoves) comes from one of his works. After 1953, he began writing essays on a wide range of topics which were ultimately collected in a series of volumes called the ''Blue Pages''. During the 1960s, his works took on a mystical tone. In 1964 he was one of the signatories of the so-called Letter of 34 to Prime Minister Józef Cyrankiewicz regarding freedom of culture. He spent most of the 1970s in Paris, where he was married and had a son. He returned to Poland, largely forgotten, in the 1980s and lived in Warsaw until his death. His story ''The Unloved'' was made into the film ' (1966).

External links

New York Times obituary, Nov. 17, 1990 Instytut Ksiazki profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudnicki, Adolf Polish male novelists Polish male essayists Jewish novelists Polish resistance members of World War II 20th-century Polish Jews 1912 births 1990 deaths 20th-century Polish novelists 20th-century Polish essayists 20th-century Polish male writers Recipients of the State Award Badge (Poland) Recipients of the Medal of the 10th Anniversary of the People's Republic of Poland