ANDRZEJEWSKI, JERZY

born Aug. 19, 1909, Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire died April 20, 1983, Warsaw Polish novelist, short-story writer, and political dissident. In 1936 Andrzejewski published Drogi nieuniknione (Unavoidable Ways), followed by Lad serca (1938; Heart's Harmony), in which he tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the German occupation of World War II, he participated in the Polish underground. After World War II he wrote Noc (1945; Night), a collection of wartime stories, and Swieto Winkelrieda (1946; Winkelried's Feast), in which he revealed not only his predilection for historic themes but also his satirical inclinations. Both trends are prominent in Popil i diament (1948; Ashes and Diamonds), generally considered his finest novel, in which he presented the tragic situation of young Polish nationalists in conflict with idealistic communists in the time immediately after World War II. This story was used in the production of a film (1961) directed by the author and Andrzej Wajda, of the Polish cinema. Andrzejewski initially supported Poland's Soviet-controlled postwar regime; he joined the Polish communist party, was an officer of the Writers' Union, and served in the Polish parliament from 1952 to 1956. However, he left the party in 1956 and thereafter became one of the principal critics of Socialist Realism, or art in the service of the state, and resisted official political strictures on creative writing. Many of his writings published in Poland in the late 1950s and '60s contained veiled criticisms of the regime, and for several years he was forbidden to publish his works. In 1976 Andrzejewski became one of the cofounders of the Workers' Defense Committee (KOR), from which grew the nationalistic and anti-communist trade union Solidarity, which was outlawed in 1981 and did not revive until after his death.