Andrzej Szczypiorski

Andrzej Szczypiorski
Occupation	novelist, politician, diplomat
Nationality	Polish
Genres	novel, short story
Notable work(s)	A Mass for Arras (pl.: Msza za miasto Arras)

 Andrzej Szczypiorski (help·info) (Polish pronunciation: [ˈandʐeɪ̯ ʂt͡ʂɨˈpʲɔrski]; February 3, 1928 – May 16, 2000) was a Polish novelist and politician.

He was son of Adam Szczypiorski, a political activist, historian and mathematician, and Jadwiga nee Epsztajn. Andrzej has a sister Wiesława (1924-1945).

He spent his childhood in Warsaw.

During World War II he pursued studied in the underground university movement, called the "flying university" due to the regular movement of its location, and was a partisan of the Polish People’s Army. He was a participant of the Warsaw Uprising. After the Warsaw Uprising he was arrested and condemned to be a prisoner of Sachsenhausen concentration camp in which he survived until 1945.

In 1946-1947 he studied political science in the Warsaw Consular Diplomatic Academy.

In 1948-1956, Szczypiorski worked as an editor and in the theater, in the Katowice Silesian Theater. During this period, in 1952, he made his literary debut in the magazine "Życie Literackie" using the pseudonym 'Maurice S. Andrews' and was inducted into the Polish Writers Union.

In 1956-1958, he was selected to serve in the Polish Embassy to Denmark, after which he returned to work as an editor on the radio and for publications.

He later served as a member of the Polish legislature.

He was a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Prior to his death, Szczypiorski converted to Calvinism, and is buried in the Protestant Reformed Cemetery in Warsaw.

After his death it came out that he was a collaborator of the polish communist secret police.

Awards

• 1972 Polish PEN-Club Prize
• 1988 Austrian State Prize for European Literature
• 1989 Nelly Sachs Prize
• 1994 Herder Prize

References

• Newsweek article

This article incorporates information from the Polish Wikipedia.

• University of Silesia in Katowice University Gazette Article, 2000

Notes