Teodor Bujnicki (13 December 1907 – 27 November 1944) was a Polish

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and a member of the literary group ''Żagary''. 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 ...

, Bujnicki was condemned for "collaboration with Soviet occupants" in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

after

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

's incorporation into the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The reason for this was that he published several critical articles about the Polish pre-war authorities and the

Sanation Sanation (, ) was a Polish political movement that emerged in the interwar period, prior to Józef Piłsudski's May 1926 ''Coup d'État'', and gained influence following the coup. In 1928, its political activists went on to form the Nonpartisa ...

regime as the editor of a Polish-language Soviet journal. For this, Bujnicki was sentenced to death ''in absentia'' for

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

by the

Polish Underground State The Polish Underground State (, also known as the Polish Secret State) was a single political and military entity formed by the union of resistance organizations in occupied Poland that were loyal to the Government of the Republic of Poland ...

in Vilnius in 1942. However, he avoided execution, as he fled from Vilnius and hid by living with relatives in

Panevėžys Panevėžys () is the fifth-largest List of cities in Lithuania, city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, eighth-most-populous city in the Baltic States. it occupies with 89,100 inhabitants. As defined by Eu ...

and

Palanga Palanga (; ; ) is a resort town, resort city in western Lithuania, on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Palanga is the busiest and the largest summer resort in Lithuania and has sand, sandy beaches (18 km, 11 miles long and up to 300 metres, 10 ...

, during

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

's occupation of Lithuania. The cultural director of the

Union of Polish Patriots Union of Polish Patriots (''Society of Polish Patriots'', , ZPP, ) was a political body created by Polish communists in the Soviet Union in 1943. The ZPP, unofficially controlled and directed by Joseph Stalin, became one of the founding structur ...

, Bujnicki returned to Vilnius continued working as the editor of the journal after the city was retaken by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in 1944. As the sentence from 1942 was never changed nor appealed, he was shot and mortally wounded by

Waldemar Butkiewicz Waldemar, Valdemar, Valdimar, or Woldemar is an Old High German given name. It consists of the elements ''wald-'' "power", "brightness" and ''-mar'' "fame". The name is considered the equivalent of the Latvian name Valdemārs, the Estonian name ...

, a soldier of the Polish

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 ...

, on 27 November 1944 in Vilnius. By the resolution of the Presidium of the

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish language, Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in Nazi Germany, German- ...

of 18 January 1946 "in recognition of his merits for the benefit of the Republic of Poland in organizing the Soviet Polonia on the ideological platform of the Union of Polish Patriots", he was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Cross of Grunwald The Order of the Cross of Grunwald (') was a military decoration created in Poland in November 1943 by the High Command of Gwardia Ludowa, a World War II Polish resistance movement organised by the Polish Workers Party. On 20 February 1944 it ...

, 3rd class.

Selected works

* ''Po omacku'', collection of poems (1933) * ''18 ohydnych paszkwilów na Wilno i Wilnian'' (1934) * ''Pamiątki historyczne Wileńszczyzny i Nowogródzczyzny'' (1935) * ''W połowie drogi'', collection of poems (1937) * ''Majówka w Afryce'', posthumously (1950) * ''Wybór wierszy'', posthumously (1950)

References

* 1907 births 1944 deaths 20th-century Polish poets Burials at Antakalnis Cemetery Deaths by firearm in Lithuania People executed by the Polish Underground State People executed by Poland by firearm Writers from Vilnius {{Poland-poet-stub