Józef Wittlin (1896–1976) was a Polish novelist, poet and translator.

Life

After graduating from a classical

gimnazjum ''Gymnasium'' (and variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term '' preparatory high school''. Bef ...

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukrain ...

, Wittlin joined the volunteer military formation of the Polish Legion in August 1914. His unit was however soon disbanded due to the refusal of the Poles to take the oath for the Austrian government. Subsequently, he went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he passed the

Matura or its translated terms (''Mature'', ''Matur'', , , , , , ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cz ...

and began studying philosophy. With his friend

Joseph Roth Moses Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga ''Radetzky March'' (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life '' Job'' ...

he again joined the Austrian army in 1916, and after some military training was drafted into the infantry. Shortly before being sent to the Italian front he fell ill with

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects child ...

and was thus prevented from direct participation in the fighting. His military service took place far away from the front and included among other things working as a translator in

prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military priso ...

s with Italian soldiers. In 1922 he moved to

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

and 1927 to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is official ...

. In 1924 he married Halina Handelsmann. At this time he undertook extensive travels through Europe which significantly influenced his work. At the outbreak of World War II, he was living in Paris, from where he was evacuated in May 1940 to

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...

. With the help of Hermann Kesten, he and his family succeeded in escaping in January 1941 from

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

through Spain and Portugal to New York, where he remained after the war.

Works

*''Anthems'' (''Hymny''), Poems (1920) *''War, peace and the soul of a poet'' (''Wojna, pokój i dusza poety''), essays (1925) *''From the memoirs of a former pacifist'' (''Ze wspomnień byłego pacyfisty'') (1929) *''Stages'' (''Etapy''), travel notes (1933) *''Salt of the Earth'' (''Sól ziemi''), the first novel of an envisioned, unfinished trilogy ''Tale of a Patient Infantryman'' (1935) *''My Lwów'' (''Mój Lwów''), memories (1946); English translation (by Antonia Lloyd-Jones) published together with

Philippe Sands Philippe Joseph Sands, KC (born 17 October 1960) is a British and French writer and lawyer a11 King's Bench Walkand Professor of Laws and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals at University College London. A specialist in ...

' ''My Lviv'' as ''City of Lions'' (London: Pushkin Press, 2016; ) *''Orpheus in the underworld of the twentieth century (''Orfeusz w piekle XX wieku''), essays (1963) *''Poems'' (Poezje) (1978, posthumously)

Life

Works

References

Further reading