Background
Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski was born on May 20, 1919 in Kielce, Poland. He was the son of Jakub (Josek) Herling-Grudzinski and Dorota Bryczkowska.
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Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski was born on May 20, 1919 in Kielce, Poland. He was the son of Jakub (Josek) Herling-Grudzinski and Dorota Bryczkowska.
Gustaw's studies at the Warsaw University were interrupted because of the beginning of World War II.
In 1991, Herling-Grudziński attained honorary degree at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
In October 1939 together with colleagues Gustaw established one of the first conspiracy organisations — Polska Ludowa Akcja Niepodległosciowa (PLAN). He went to Lviv and then to Grodno.
In 1940 Herling-Grudzinski was arrested by the NKVD while he attempted to go to Lithuania. He was released nearly two years later to fight with Polish forces under Soviet control against the Nazis, but escaped through Persia (modern-day Iran) to England, and fought under the Polish government in exile there. Gustaw was stationed in Italy and continued to live there in the decades after the war.
In 1947 Herling-Grudzinski co-founded the Kultura magazine, which was then published in Rome.
During the period from 1952 to 1955, he worked at Radio Liberty in Munich.
Since 1971, Gustaw wrote a literary journal till the end of his writing career, covering essays, criticism, anecdote, fiction and memoir.
Gustaw was anti-Nazi activist. He also was a political dissident abroad during the communist system in Poland.
Quotations:
"My elaboration of the story always conforms to the reality at its source. It is always close to the world, the life, the reality it describes. No matter where I go, I’m still holding up a mirror."
"I lose hope when the desire for life awakens within me; but I regain it whenever the longing for death comes upon me."
Gustaw was a member of Polish Writers' Union.
Gustaw was married to Lidia Herling.