| dbo:abstract
|
- Wrzesień żagwiący (English: Scorching September) is a 1947 book of literary reportage written by the Polish historian and political journalist Melchior Wańkowicz. The book is a collection of analytical thinking stories written by Wańkowicz in the early 1940s, while the author was in exile. Following the invasion of Poland, he left the country in late September 1939 for Romania, later moving to Cyprus, BritishPalestine, Italy, and finally, to London. Wrzesień żagwiący gives a vivid account of the Polish September Campaign; its title refers to the fact that Nazi Germany, together with the Soviet Union invaded the Second Polish Republic jointly in September 1939. The book was first published in 1947, in London, by Gryf Publishing House. It was reprinted in 1990 by Polonia Publishing House, while several stories from the book were printed separately, with the most popular one, Westerplatte, having been printed in 1959, 1960, 1963, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1989, and 1990. In August 2009, Warsaw publishing house Prószyński i Spółka reprinted the book in the third volume of collected works by Wańkowicz. In this volume, Wrzesień żagwiący is published together with other war-related stories, such as Strzępy epopei, Szpital w Cichiniczach, and Po klęsce. The introduction to the 2009 volume was written by Tadeusz Paweł Rutkowski, historian of the University of Warsaw. Rutkowski wrote that Wańkowicz collected stories of the September Campaign "on the spot, planning to publish them in the press (...) After crossing the Romanian border, he faced a general chaos and bitterness of the lost war. For the Polish nation, the speed of German units, their advancement in armour and airforce, and the panic evacuation of Polish authorities, were a complete shock (...) Wrzesień żagwiący was written to present heroism of the Polish soldier, and to show the world that the invasion was not an easy walk for the Germans. Polish troops were eager to fight, but were defeated by numerical and technological superiority of the enemy (...) New stories were added to the book throughout the war. Wrzesień... is full of emotions, not always factually accurate and spiked with statistical errors, yet authentic and direct (...) Wańkowicz presents people who kept on fighting aware of hopelessness of their position. He describes the country which was attacked by two enemies, with soldiers trying to reach southern border, between the Wehrmacht in the west, and the Red Army in the east. The detailed description of fighting sometimes is far from reality, which was the result of Wańkowicz's inability to confront stories told by different people. Therefore, the description of the Battle of Westerplatte, based mainly on the account of Mayor Henryk Sucharski, diverges from historical works (...) It is a paradox that the book, written for immediate publication as an answer to German propaganda, did not accomplish its task. Its author, banned by the government of Władysław Sikorski for his pre-war affiliations, did not receive permission for the publication. As a complete book, it was not published until 1947, reaching a narrow circle of readers. In the People's Republic of Poland, Wrzesień żagwiący was never published in its complete form. Communist censorship accepted the chapters about Westerplatte and Major Dobrzański, but descriptions of Soviet invasion and fighting with the Red Army were not available for Polish readers until 1990". (en)
|
| rdfs:comment
|
- Wrzesień żagwiący (English: Scorching September) is a 1947 book of literary reportage written by the Polish historian and political journalist Melchior Wańkowicz. The book is a collection of analytical thinking stories written by Wańkowicz in the early 1940s, while the author was in exile. Following the invasion of Poland, he left the country in late September 1939 for Romania, later moving to Cyprus, BritishPalestine, Italy, and finally, to London. Wrzesień żagwiący gives a vivid account of the Polish September Campaign; its title refers to the fact that Nazi Germany, together with the Soviet Union invaded the Second Polish Republic jointly in September 1939. The book was first published in 1947, in London, by Gryf Publishing House. It was reprinted in 1990 by Polonia Publishing House, wh (en)
|
