środa, 5 czerwca 2013

The Late Zbigniew Zaniewicki

Dzielę się dzisiaj wspomnieniem o Zbigniewie Zaniewickim, niezwykłym człowieku, w którego biografii były i lwowskie Orlęta, i powstania śląskie, i amazońska dżungla, i paryski kabaret, i powstanie warszawskie, no i oczywiście wieloletnie sekretarzowanie Miriamowi w jego pracy nad Norwidem. Polska wersja tekstu ukazała się w "Studia Norwidiana"  9-10: 1991-1992, s. 291-299. O przekład postarałem się ze względu na córkę p. Zaniewickiego.

THE LATE ZBIGNIEW ZANIEWICKI

(27 January 1903 – 3 May 1991)

The memoirs about Zbigniew Zaniewicki should not, strictly speaking, be written on a computer at home or in a university reading room. They should rather be written by a hand that remembers learning calligraphy
at the beginning of our century. They should be composed on the top of a portable table put in various places of the globe: at sea and on land, in the muggy air of the Amazon jungle and on the noisy and bustling pavement of a big city agglomeration, in a Paris cabaret and in a pre-war office of a state official, in the tobacco-filled flat of Zenon Przesmycki “Miriam” and on a Warsaw insurrection barricade, in a prisoner-of-war camp and in England so friendly towards Polish emigrants. This could be the hand of someone who came to take diverse roles in his life, that of a soldier, a traveller, a sailor, a waiter, a student, a poet, a manual worker, a secretary of a serious institution, a Doctor of Philosophy, an editor, a merchant, a businessman, a teacher, a printer and, last but not least, a husband and a father. Simultaneously, it should be the hand of someone who does not lack literary talent and that special kind of sensitivity which makes it possible to perceive various values of the everyday existence and to enjoy the vitality and the sensual beauty of the world. What is more, this person should be able to write an objective note on dramatic changes in the history of the twentieth century.
Such unrealistic – as we may suppose – postulates were, fortunately, realised in the shape of six volumes of the memoirs of the late Zbigniew Zaniewicki[1], which give the opportunity to get to know in detail with the outstanding biography of a man who witnessed and participated in the most important events in the history of the new-born Poland and did credit to the Polish culture[2]. History and Norwid are, undoubtedly, two most important motifs of these incredible memoirs, creating an unrepeatable chronicle of the 20th century. Once in a while we can see in them how the passion of life and acting, organizational skills and disinterested kindness towards others allow – in spite of  historic thunders – to undertake and accomplish uncommon works. Thus, if I venture to form this abstract mainly on the basis of these vivid pages, I do it not only due to the need of “making public the gratitude” towards the meritorious editor of Norwid’s texts and his closest co-worker, Zenon Przesmycki, but also because of my personal desire to recollect the man I had the occasion to meet and talk to several times in the year 1989.

Zbigniew Zaniewicki was born in Warsaw on 27 January 1903 as the only son in Tomasz Zaniewicki’s second marriage, the founder of Tomasz Zaniewicki Department Store (founded in 1895). He starts his education in Warsaw, but breaks it in the fifth form to join the defenders of Lvov. The next phase of his biography is his stay in Lvov First Cadet Corps, again broken by an escape, this time to Upper Silesia, to join the Third Silesian Uprising. On the basis of his military youth experiences he would later create “Oberschlesien”. Niepowieść (“Oberschlesien”. A Non-novel – the titles’ translations are the translator’s own version) (1930: Warsaw), a documentary prose, partly a reportage, written from the perspective of a participant of the insurrectionary fights. In 1920 Zbigniew Zaniewicki takes part in the defence of Warsaw, then he passes his Matura exam, starts studying Polish Philology and… breaks it after a year – in 1923, as a candidate for a student in Business Marine Higher School, he sets sail for Brazil aboard a school-sailing ship “Lwów”. Even during this voyage he participates in a historic event: for the first time a vessel under the Polish flag crosses the equator[3]. On 7 September the ship lands in Rio de Janeiro and the adventure-seeking adept of the Marine School wilfully leaves the board to stay in Brazil. It was a far-reaching decision, putting in motion a series of almost “novelistic” events, complicated adventures, extreme perils and miraculous salvations. Suffice it to mention a none too sensible boat expedition up the Amazon river, as well as some consequences of the outbreak of the Brazilian revolution, as a result of which Zaniewicki was arrested and accused of spying, finally the malaria and an almost miraculous recovery. Years later these experiences bore fruit – with an encouragement of Melchior Wańkowicz, Zaniewicki published his debut book, a novel written in the first person Zielone piekło (inferno verde). Z przeżyć w puszczy brazylijskiej (Green Hell (inferno verde). On the Experiences in the Brazilian Jungle), published by “Rój” in 1928[4], yet detailed recollections of the adventures on the Amazon filled the second volume of the “chronicles”, published fifty years later – Moje pełnolecie (My Whole Life). He comes back to Europe in spring 1925.
A hastily started ramble lasted four years, two of which he spent in Paris. Zbigniew Zaniewicki works first as a supplier to a restaurant, then as a waiter, finally he establishes, in the company of two Russian artists of the stage, a cabaret “Uyutniy Ugolok”*. But, simultaneously, he starts his studies on the University of Sorbonne on the History of the French Revolution and on Russian Literature. He spends much of his time in Polish Library, relating in his memoirs a moving encounter with Władysław Mickiewicz in the reading room of the Library.
He returns to Warsaw in the spring of 1927. He attempts to improve his family’s material maintenance, but simultaneously, he tries to renew his studies at the University of Warsaw. Professor Józef Ujejski promises him to win University Senate’s agreement to take his master’s degree within two years time. Zaniewicki undertakes a not very attractive work of a clerk in Social Insurance Office, later replaced by a scholarship organized by professor Ujejski. He passes his successive exams at Professors: Tadeusz Kotarbiński, Władysław Tatarkiewicz, Henryk Mościcki, Stanisław Szober, he writes his master’s thesis about Jan Smolik and defends it in November 1929.
In July that year Zbigniew Zaniewicki begins his extremely busy clerking in Staszic Palace as a secretary of the Polish Committee of the International Intellectual Cooperation (Międzynarodowa Współpraca Intelektualna – MWI) under the presidency of Professor Karol Lutostański. Soon new institutions arose under the patronage of MWI, and the growing weight of office and organizational work fell upon the only secretary. These institutions were: Polish University Office, Polish Society for the Protection of Copyright (later ZAiKS), Central Committee of Polish Political Science Institutions, Polish Office of the International School Correspondence, Head Office of Summer Courses of the Polish Culture for Foreigners, Polish Committee for the Inspection of Foreign School Coursebooks. Suffice it to mention that the duties of these committees’ secretary involved correspondence (hundreds of them a week), the organization of congresses, writing reports and guidebooks, sending and collecting survey questionnaires, etc. Organizational skills of a fresh graduate of the University of Warsaw found an excellent field of activity. Let us mention some of the works prepared and edited by Zaniewicki in this period: a 400-page guidebook about Polish schools of higher education, International Intellectual Cooperation 1931/1932 (the Report of the Secretary of the Polish Committee of the International Intellectual Cooperation). 1933. Warsaw; International School Correspondence (History, Aim, Organisation and Methods). 1933. Warsaw; and the editing of the Polish section of the francophone L’Organisation de l’Enseigement Supérier. 1937. Paris.
Along with the duties of the secretary of the MWI Zaniewicki finds time also for the literary production (apart from the novels mentioned above he published a volume of poetry Ślady (Traces). 1934. Warsaw: Dom Książki Polskiej), and for writing his doctoral dissertation about Norwid’s poem Quidam, finished by a successful defence of it on 18 June 1939[5].
In 1934 he marries a Frenchwoman, the participant of the summer courses; when the war breaks out, he is already a father of two sons: Witold and Jacek.

In the beginning of his clerking job in Staszic Palace, in the autumn of 1927, Zaniewicki is visited in his office by Zenon Przesmycki – the chairman of the Society for the Protection of Copyright, working on renewing this right according to the Bern Convention. Thanks to working hard at settling various office matters between the Committee’s chairman and its secretary, mutual trust and sympathy arise, strengthened by more and more frequent visits of Zaniewicki in the flat by 4 Mazowiecka Street. Soon Norwid becomes the principal topic of their evening meetings.
On dozens of pages of his memoirs (especially in From  the Amazon to the Vistula), Zbigniew Zaniewicki relates the details of his cooperation with the discoverer of Norwid, the cooperation which led to the publication of seven volumes of Complete Writings. Before this happens, however, Zaniewicki encourages Miriam in making annotations to Selected Poems, assists discreetly in editing three volumes of Inedits in 1933, after the publication of Works (under the direction of Pini) he defends Miriam in the press[6] and accompanies him in court.
If, on the basis of his pre-war appearances, the history was to assess his impact into the studies of Norwid, Zaniewicki would at most stand among other explorers and fans of the production of Norwid of that period. But the fate planned an outstanding role for him. In his memoirs we can find, among others, an attempt to explain the causes of the rebirth of Przesmycki’s editing activity, a phenomenon that by another remarkable connoisseur of Norwid was defined as a “miracle”. This is what Zaniewicki writes:

I must admit I am not convinced by the statements that it was an illness that accounted for Miriam’s delays in publishing. Of course, years influenced on him a lot – Miriam became slower in everything, he read with a magnifying glass and his hands trembled because of excessive smoking, which hindered him from writing quickly. But he did not experience any “anguish”.
Let’s look at these matters from the point of view of Miriam. He was fully aware that he presented Poland with a great creator. (…) Mortkowicz’s refusal to publish further volumes of Collected Works hurt Miriam who moved his interests towards studies of Hoene-Wroński, and later – of the copyright. The attacks from Słonimski and others discouraged him from work and every new assault increased this discouragement.
Precisely to counteract these factors and throw him off the feeling of inertia, I decided to surround him with son-like attachment, I would offer him disinterested help, I would emphasize his merits and I would leap to his defence. That “miracle”, which J. Gomulicki mentions, I must, with every immodesty, ascribe in large measure to myself since it was the result of several years of my attempts to stimulate him to further work.



 These words set the history of the publishing “miracle” in a new light – explaining it on the psychological plane. There are no reasons why we should not believe Zaniewicki: a kind devotion which he offered Miriam and help in coping with his adversaries could really have released in the editor the new power to act. The confirmation of the meaning of Zaniewicki’s efforts is, after all, the unquestionable enormity of work that he, along with Przesmycki, put into the preparation and the publication of Complete Writings[7]. This fact is known to the historians of literature, but it seems that even here a few explanations should be made. It is true that it was Zaniewicki who, using various tricks, convinced Miriam to put himself to the trouble of elaborating a new, full and faithful edition of Norwid’s texts. Also true is that in great measure he decided about the sequence of publishing particular sections of Norwid’s production, being careful to give priority to the unpublished texts: letters and dramas. True that it was him who gave the realistic idea of giving up annotations. True that he decided to carry the burden of all organizational endeavours: subscription, finances, proof-reading, contacts with a printing house, etc. Last but not least, it is true that he assisted Miriam in writing forewords to particular volumes and sections, provoking the Minister of Culture to an utterance, making notes under a table, then wording it and giving it to a final acceptation. If we recall the continuous problems of the editors with Miriam not delivering on time texts of forewords or annotations, the conclusion will not be difficult – most probably, Complete Writings would suffer the same fate as Collected Works, if not for a providential appearance of Zbigniew Zaniewicki. A further, tragic consequence of this hypothetical turn would be, partly fulfilled, a possibility of disappearance or damage of the manuscripts or their only copies as a result of a sort of fate, whether fire or water, even if we take into account that no one had thought about the approaching war yet.
For sure, there is no need to wait any longer for a historical verification of the impact of Zbigniew Zaniewicki into Miriam’s editing success. In the light of some credible recollections, it is clearly seen that without this cooperation Zenon Przesmycki would have never published six volumes of Complete Writings, maybe also Inedits in 1933, the impression of the fifth and the sixth volume would not have survived as well, probably we would not have volume seven[8], and the canon of known Norwid’s texts would probably lack those writings that had not been published earlier or were damaged during the war.
“Miriam’s Secretary” – as Zaniewicki was often called – till the end of his life bore testimony of his friendly attachment and memory of the discoverer of Norwid. He published memoirs about Przesmycki, defended him and rectified unjust opinions appearing in the press, delivered lectures and took the floor in occasional discussions. “Sixteen years of friendship full of service and admiration on my part, and of trust and approval – on his…” – he wrote after several years. With a smile he remembered  a summer resort of Chyliczki – not far from Miriam’s place of isolation and ponderousness there was a villa of the Zaniewickis. Seeing the famous editor walking behind the fence, could a little boy suppose that after some years he would become his closest co-worker and that they would take the effort so important for the Polish culture? Did he intuit that in Ślady (Traces) he would write a remarkable dedication: “To the Apostle of Beauty, that is Truth, to Miriam, I sacrifice this collection”? Did he think that after years, in the occupied, and then destroyed, Warsaw, he would have to take care of an elderly man devoted to Arts? It is hard to find another, more accurate, example of a friendship concentrated around Norwid.



Due to the duties performed in the International Intellectual Cooperation (MWI) Zaniewicki sets on a few journeys before the war. From the first of them, to Paris, he returns a day before the funeral of Józef Piłsudski. His last business travel – to London, at the end of June 1939 – is not less dramatic. In a train from Berlin to Lyon he is “lucky” to travel with a crowd of some party-activists on their way back from some congress. A discussion arises, finished by a dangerous row. But as a result of this incident, Zaniewicki, who, before his departure, had been asked by Leopold Wellisz for a diagnosis of the “state of minds” in Germany, immediately sends a telegram to Poland, after which Wellisz with his family decides to go to America[9]. On August 27 Zaniewcki comes from Paris to London, where his wife and children are waiting for him. But the next day, asked for escorting someone’s daughter, he sets on a journey to Poland, through Italy and Yugoslavia. On August 31 they arrive in Budapest, where they learn about the German attack on Poland. Through Lvov, then by a goods train, they arrive in Warsaw on September 2. Again a chance decides about the lot of Zbigniew Zaniewicki in the history.
It would be hard to retell here even a part of all events from the years 1939-1945, mentioned in Five Fierce Years and The Uprising and After. Zaniewicki – not forgetting about Miriam and the volumes of Norwid edited at that time – works in the anti-aircraft defence and participates in extinguishing fires. After the capitulation he unsuccessfully tries to get to France. He gets back to the capital, where he has to take care of the living of his mother and an ill sister. In the course of time, he attempts to join actively in the life of the underground, but what hinders him from it is Oberschlesien – a novel written in his youth and making its author a potential source of dangers for the conspirators. Living under occupation forces him to start working in trade. The beginnings are humble – he sells torches and batteries. Later he offers berets, paintbrushes and flypapers. In  the course of time they establish a warehouse offering spare parts for bicycles and a factory producing batteries and cardboard-boxes. In 1944 Zaniewicki is already a potentate, the owner of glass-works, and thanks to his organizational skills, the factories and shops under his management employ about 200 people, including Jews. He is not indifferent to the lot of others: if he can he turns his money over, especially when a life-saving bribe comes into play. Several times he himself was in a mortal danger. Once he was saved by a spoiling chain in his bicycle, which decided about his late arrival at a conspiratorial meeting, during which his friends were caught, another time it was money that saved him. Some other time at a police station he was accused by his rival of stealing 150 batteries and of the Jewish origin. Because the first charge turned out to be absurd regarding Zaniewicki’s fortune, to support the second charge the accuser gave the argument that a Pole would never have such a head for business.
When the Uprising breaks out, Zaniewicki volunteers and is admitted to a company which is part of Major Bartkiewicz’s grouping. He takes part in an attack on PAST, where he injures his forearm. As a result, he starts working in the Press Information Office; he participates in rescue operations and extinguishing fires. On 25 September he is seriously wounded in his lung. After the collapse of the Uprising he gets to the prison war in Zeithain in Saxony.

In the camp he creates a few poems, among others an occasional Wilia 1944 (Christmas Eve 1944) and an autobiographical Don Kichot w niewoli (Don Quixote in Captivity). After recovery, Zaniewicki joins in the camp life: he writes Szopka powstańcza (The Insurrectionary Play), a show Powstanie listopadowe (Fantazja) (The November Insurrection (A Fantasy)) and Styczniowa fantazja (The January Fantasy), directed in the camp by Ziemowit Karpiński. After some time he begins a lecturing action. The subject of his lectures is, obviously, Norwid[10]. After the liberation of the camp he makes for Lyon to meet his wife and children. Unfortunately, war separation and the lack of stability at the side of a “Polish romantic” destroy the Polish-French marriage.
Zaniewicki spends his first years after the war mainly in Paris, where he works first in the Parisian institute of the MWI, and then in UNESCO. In 1950 he moves to England. He works as a teacher and a printer. Here he meets his second wife, Margaret, and he settles near Hastings, in St. Leonards-on-Sea. In 1957 he brings out Political and Philosophical Writings by Norwid.
Margaret’s bad health condition, suffering from poliomyelitis, which causes a partial paralysis and the mobility limited to a wheelchair, as well as other family duties did not allow Zaniewicki to carry on writing. His style, very picturesque and resembling fin-de-siecle writings, was one more time shown in Rozmyślania nad „Quidam” (Meditations on “Quidam”). At the beginning of the 1970s the successive volumes of his memoirs begin to appear.
Zaniewicki participated actively in numerous initiatives of the Society of Polish Writers on Emigration, he was a member of the managing board, he also took part in a colleague court (in Poland: a body that arbitrates disputes within a group, a staff or an organization). Moreover, he was a member of the Editors’ Committee in „Pamiętnik Literacki” (“Literary Diary”), published in London, for which he wrote about 100 biographical notes designed to appear in The Dictionary of Polish Writers on Emigration. In 1981 he was awarded by the Society for the volume of memoirs From the Amazon to the Vistula, and in 1983 he got award from the Society of Polish Writers for his lifetime career achievement. He died on May 3, 1991 in St. Leonards-on-Sea.


When in February 1989 I was going on a one-month scholarship to London, I did not suppose I would have got to a hospitable home in St. Leonards-on-Sea. I received a very warm welcome by Mr. and Mrs. Zaniewicki, and the day was filled with conversations about Miriam and Norwid, during which, with a lot of pleasure, I took the position of a listener of the recollections fixed in the memory of Mr. Zaniewicki. If not for knowing his age – judging by his gesticulation and his old face – I would have been convinced that the man talking to me was no more than sixty years old. After dinner we brought up the subject of the studies of Norwid and soon – to my big surprise – the editor decided to hand over all his books and materials to the Department of the Study of Norwid of the Catholic Lublin University. Due to the volume and weight of the unexpected donation the plan was not put into practice until October. The first of the visits in autumn failed – Mr. Zaniewicki did not feel well, he mixed English and Polish, mistook me for someone else. Even the hostess was worried by her husband’s condition. I returned for a night to London full of fear. The next day everything became clear: an elderly man mistook both a medicine and its dose. When I reached Zaniewickis’ house on St. Matthew Rd. at about midday, I was welcomed by the usual kindness and we immediately got down to packing the collection. Thanks to this, many works on Norwid survived, such as a few dozens of the seventh volume of Complete Writings, a typescript of Zaniewicki’s doctoral dissertation, the majority of pre-war editions of Norwid, books and extra copies of scientific articles originally dedicated to the “secretary Miriam”, finally a small archive of items cut out from the press[11]. Mr. Zbigniew Zaniewicki retained only one book: a copy of Selected Poems, bound in leather, purchased in Zaithain and personally signed by Zenon Przesmycki.
Adam Cedro






[1] These are their titles according to the publication date: Moje dwudziestolecie (My Twenty Years). 1976. London: PFK; Moje pełnolecie (My Whole Life). 1977. London: PFK; Od Amazonki do Wisły (From the Amazon to the Vistula). 1980. London: PFK; Pięć groźnych lat (Five Fierce Years). 1982. London: PFK; Powstanie i potem (The Uprising and After). 1984. London: OPiM; Na pobojowisku. 1945-1950 (On the battlefield. 1945-1950). 1988. London: PFK. A few biographical dates are included in Leksykon polskiej literatury emigracyjnej (Lexicon of Polish Emigration Literature) by Jan Zieliński (Jan Kowalski). 1989. Lublin pp. 142-143 (with mistakes) and in Słownik pisarzy polskich na obczyźnie (The Dictionary of Polish Writers on Emigration). 1980. “Pamiętnik Literacki”: 3, p. 118. (– the titles’ translations here and in other parts of this text are the translator’s own version)
[2] In the interview by Regina Wasiak in 1982 he stated: “I belong to those lucky Poles who terribly awaited independence and who did live to see it. They were happy to fight for it, and then they intended to ‘build something out of nothing’. […] To note the truth about those years was my aim, my idea of writing. It would be wonderful if in 100 years’ time someone read it and started to ‘breathe’ the epoch that I have lived through.” Korespondent własnego życia – rozmowa ze Zbigniwem Zaniewickim (The Correspondent of His Own Life – an Interview with Zbigniew Zaniewicki). “Pamiętnik Literacki” (London) 6:1983 p. 85.
[3] On the basis of his marine experiences Zaniewicki would after several years publish his novel Równik (The Equator) (1936. Warsaw: Książnica Atlas).
[4] The date on the cover is incorrect: 1929.
* In Polish the term “kabaret” – “cabaret” means rather a performance consisting of silly, often satirical, comedy sketches (– translator’s note).
[5] In his volume Od Amazonki do Wisły (From the Amazon to the Vistula) Zaniewicki with the humour proper to him comments this fact: “I think I was the last ‘Doctor of Philosophy’ who obtained the degree from the University of Józef Piłsudski (because of the surname on ‘Z’)”.
[6] Five articles by Zaniewicki were reprinted (with a few changes) in the anthology Norwid i dziś. Głosy krytyczne o wydaniu „Dzieł” Norwida przez Tadeusza Piniego (Norwid and Today. Critical Voices on the Publication of Norwid’s “Works” by Tadeusz Pini) by S. P. Koczorowski (1935: Warsaw).
[7] “Within two years we published seven volumes, over 2500 pages of the texts by Norwid, in small print. Taking into consideration the fact that we made about three proof-readings, that we published everything except the poetry, which was edited before the First War, that Miriam was 78 and that we would sell the first four volumes for 13 zlotys (the editors valued the price at 50 zł), this was a big work, one of the biggest at that time.” Z. Zaniewicki in the interview by R. Wasiak.
[8] C. Norwid. 1957. Political and Philosophical Writings. Collected and arranged by Zenon Przesmycki (Miriam). London: Oficyna Poetów i Malarzy. This volume has an interesting history, because only one copy survived from among the pre-war impression, and Miriam’s foreword was reconstructed by Zaniewicki, on the basis of his own notes. Characteristic for his attitude is also the fact that he hid his name on the editorial page. Of course, if he had comprehended the code of modesty in another way, he would have put his name under that of Przesmycki on the front page, regarding the extent of his work.
[9] Let us recall that Wellisz loaned the “editing committee” of Complete Writings money for the purchase of paper for printing all volumes. At the beginning of the occupation, for fear of the requisition of the valuable material, Zaniewicki and Półtawski sold the remaining paper to the publishers of the underground, and with the received money they supported Miriam. The debt owed to Wellisz was never paid off, even as a symbolic, reliable documenting of all his merits towards the Polish culture.
[10] Conversations from Zeithain were included, as an introduction, in the selection of Norwid’s poetry Trzy miłości (Three Loves), published by Zaniewicki after the war (1946. Paris: Księgarnia Polska).
To get the volume of Selected Poems, necessary for the lecture, the ambitious fan of Norwid had to give in exchange a chicken and two loaves of bread, which he had bought from a speculator for 200 cigarettes (one packet cost $2 to $4!).
[11] The books, after being marked that they come from Zbigniew Zaniewicki’s grant, enlarged the collection of the Department of the Study of Norwid considerably, it was also there that other materials were stored. Unfortunately, after sending formal thanks along with a full list of the received materials, the Department did never obtain any response.

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