KRUCZKOWSKI, LEON

born June 28, 1900, Krakw, Poland, Austria-Hungary died Aug. 1, 1962, Warsaw, Pol. Polish novelist and playwright. Politically a socialist, Kruczkowski became famous upon the publication of his first novel, Kordian i cham (1932; Kordian and the Churl), whichas the author himself put itwas an attempt to show the peasant question in Poland from the broad perspectives of historical development. Using the Marxist view of the historical process, he saw the causes of the November 1830 Polish insurrection in the light of class struggle. He continued his social and historical analysis in the novels Pawie pira (1935; Peacock's Feathers) and Sidla (1937; The Trap). Captured as a soldier in 1939, Kruczkowski spent World War II in a prison camp. After the war he joined the Polish Communist Party and was a prominent activist in state and party affairs. His finest play, Niemcy (1949; The Germans), analyzed the process of the rapid spread of Nazi ideology among the German people. In Pierwszy dzien wolnosci (1960; The First Day of Freedom), he reflected on the conflict between human freedom and historical necessity. In his last play, Smierc gubernatora (1961; Death of a Governor), Kruczkowski examined the ethics of the capitalist world, to which he opposed the humanitarian principles of the socialist camp.