Wanda Wasilewska facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Wanda Wasilewska
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| Native name | |
| Born | 21 January 1905 Kraków, Austria-Hungary |
| Died | 29 July 1964 (aged 59) Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Resting place | Baikove Cemetery |
| Occupation | Prose writer, poet, playwright, screenwriter, editor, political activist |
| Language | Polish language |
| Citizenship | Poland Soviet Union |
| Alma mater | Jagiellonian University |
| Genre | Novel, story |
| Literary movement | Socialist realism |
| Spouse | Roman Szymański (1925–31), Marian Bogatko (1936–40), Oleksandr Korniychuk (1940–64) |
| Children | Ewa Wasilewska |
Wanda Wasilewska (born January 21, 1905 – died July 29, 1964) was an important Polish and Soviet writer and journalist. She was also a left-wing political activist. She believed in socialism and later became a strong supporter of communism.
When Nazi Germany attacked Warsaw in September 1939, Wanda fled to Lviv. This city was then part of the Soviet-occupied zone. She later moved to the Soviet Union. There, she started the Union of Polish Patriots. She also helped create the 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division. This army division grew into the Polish People's Army. It fought against the Germans on the Eastern Front during World War II.
Wanda Wasilewska was a trusted advisor to Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. Her influence was key in forming the Polish Committee of National Liberation in July 1944. This committee helped set up the Polish People's Republic. She also talked with Stalin about Poland's borders after the war. The borders ended up being what she thought was best for Poland at the time.
Contents
About Wanda Wasilewska
Her Early Life and Studies
Wanda Wasilewska was born in Kraków, Poland, on January 25, 1905. She was the second of three daughters. Her father, Leon Wasilewski, was a politician in the Polish Socialist Party (PPS). He was also the first foreign minister of independent Poland. Her mother, Wanda Zieleniewska, was also a PPS member. This meant young Wanda grew up knowing many party leaders.
From 1923, she studied Polish language and Polish literature at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She later earned her doctorate there. During her studies, she joined youth groups linked to the PPS. She also worked with the Society of Workers' Universities.
Her Political Views and Work
In the early 1930s, Wanda became very involved in women's issues. She supported gender equality. She showed this through her own actions and her work in the Women's Section of the PPS. However, she later focused more on wider class issues. She felt it was easier to work with men. She also thought some Warsaw feminists were outdated.
Wanda joined the PPS as a student. She was on the main party council from 1934 to 1937. Her father's connections helped her during her career in Poland. She later wrote about her student years in the PPS. She said they had problems with communists. The communists wanted actions that could lead to violence. Wanda and her group preferred peaceful protests against the police.
Her political views became more radical in the early 1930s. She started to see socialists as too traditional. They seemed to work too closely with the government. In 1931, she wrote to her mother that she was "turning increasingly Bolshevik". In 1932, she joined a radical youth group. This group wanted to challenge the government. They also wanted to work with communists in a new alliance called the Popular Front. She wrote to her mother about the "desperation of the people." She believed that "the communists will do something or we will, or we together with the communists." As she grew closer to communists, her relationship with the PPS worsened. She lost her seat on the party council but never left the party.
After finishing her studies, Wanda worked as a high school teacher in Kraków. But she lost her job because of her left-wing views. In 1934, she moved to Warsaw with her husband, Marian Bogatko. He had also lost his job for organizing a strike. In Warsaw, Wanda joined groups that helped political prisoners. She also worked for the Polish Teachers' Union. There, she became friends with Janina Broniewska. Janina's radical ideas greatly influenced Wanda.
Wanda wrote for many left-wing newspapers. She also led Płomyk and Płomyczek, which were children's magazines. In March 1936, she dedicated an issue of Płomyk to promoting Soviet ways of raising children. Because of this, the Prime Minister criticized her in the Polish parliament. The government confiscated the magazine. They also put restrictions on the Teachers' Union. Wanda lost her job at the Editorial Division. She was often criticized for her radical views. She supported an alliance of all left-wing parties, including communists. This alliance would stand against the ruling government.
From the mid-1930s, Wanda was closely linked with communists. In May 1936, she attended the Lviv Anti-Fascist Congress of Cultural Workers. This meeting of writers and artists supported human values. They opposed fascism, nationalism, capitalism, and war. Wanda left the congress believing that writers should be with the working class. She actively supported labor actions. This included the 1937 strike of the Polish Teachers' Union. She coordinated this strike with Janina Broniewska.
In Poland, Wanda was known as "Leon's daughter." Her father, Leon Wasilewski, died in December 1936. Wanda said her communist friends brought a wreath to his funeral. It read: "For Wanda's father." Wanda strongly supported the Soviet Union before World War II. She saw it as the only power that could stop fascism. She was also very good at social work. Helping people in need, especially children, was her passion.
During her studies, Wanda met Roman Szymański. He was a math student and a PPS activist. They married and had a daughter, Ewa. Roman died in August 1931. Later that year, Wanda met Marian Bogatko. He was a construction worker and PPS activist. They married in late 1936. This was so they could get documents to travel to the Soviet Union. Marian died in Lviv in May 1940. At that time, Wanda was already a delegate to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.
During World War II
After Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Wanda fled east. She went to Lviv, which was then controlled by the Soviets. Like many other Poles, she became a Soviet citizen. She was excited about this change. She believed it would help Poles gain freedom. In September 1939, she officially joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
The Soviets worked with Wanda to organize Polish intellectuals. They wanted them to become Soviet allies. Wanda helped prevent the University of Lviv from becoming fully Ukrainian. Because of her, some Polish teachers stayed. Teaching in Polish continued in some departments. In 1940, Wanda also helped make a propaganda film. It supported the Soviet invasion of Poland. She quickly became known as a loyal Soviet supporter. Her family members were brought from Warsaw to Lviv. Her daughter Ewa moved to the Soviet zone.
Wanda worked with different communist groups. She wrote for Czerwony Sztandar ('The Red Banner'). This was a pro-Soviet newspaper in Polish. In early 1940, Joseph Stalin gave her a seat in the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. She became the literary director of the Polish Theatre in Lviv. She also helped start Nowe Widnokręgi ('New Horizons'), a social-literary magazine.
On June 28, 1940, Stalin met with Wanda in Moscow. This meeting changed Soviet policies towards Poles. It led to many Soviet-Polish projects. These included political, military, and cultural activities.
When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Wanda fled to Moscow. She joined the Red Army as a war correspondent. She was a colonel. She traveled a lot to encourage soldiers fighting on the Great Patriotic War. She soon wrote a war novel called Tęcza ('The Rainbow'). It was quickly translated into Russian. This novel won her the Stalin Prize. A film was also made based on it. In August 1941, she became the head of the Polish section of the All-Slavic Anti-Fascist Committee.
Stalin trusted Wanda very much. She could contact him directly. She was brave in her dealings with him.
In January 1943, Wanda wrote a letter with Alfred Lampe to Vyacheslav Molotov. After talking with Stalin, Wanda became the head of the Union of Polish Patriots (ZPP). This was a large group for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union. It was officially formed in Moscow in June 1943. The ZPP aimed to establish socialism in Poland. It helped create Poland's post-war government. Wanda also helped organize aid for Poles in the Soviet Union. She set up Polish schools for children. Nearly 30,000 Polish children, many orphans, were cared for by Wanda and her ZPP colleagues. Most returned to Poland after the war.
In April 1943, the Soviets stopped relations with the Polish government-in-exile. Wanda wrote an article criticizing the Polish government. This showed that the Soviets would not work with them. On May 6, 1943, Wanda's periodical, Wolna Polska ('The Free Poland'), announced the formation of the Polish 1st Tadeusz Kościuszko Infantry Division. Wanda and Zygmunt Berling had asked Stalin to create this division in September 1942. Stalin's decision showed he would pursue Polish affairs without the government-in-exile.
On July 15, 1943, the new Polish army was shown to the public. Wanda spoke at a press conference for the ZPP. In October, the Polish army fought the Germans for the first time in the Battle of Lenino. Wanda said she pushed for the army to fight early. This was to show the Allies that the Soviet-allied Polish army was already fighting. The Poles had many casualties, but Wanda was shocked by the losses. She had the division pulled from combat for more training. After the battle, the ZPP awarded Polish military medals.
In July 1944, Wanda became deputy chief of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN). This was a temporary government supported by the Soviet Union. It was set up in Lublin to oppose the Polish government-in-exile in London. In August, Wanda, Bolesław Bierut, and Michał Rola-Żymierski met with Prime Minister Stanisław Mikołajczyk. They tried to negotiate, but he refused their offer to become prime minister of a communist-led government.
In 1942, Wanda suggested the idea of a "Poland of Bolesław Krzywousty." This meant Poland would stretch from the Oder to the Bug River. This idea for post-war Poland came from her talks with Stalin. It meant Poland would lose eastern lands but gain western territories. In July 1944, Wanda also got Stalin to agree to move Poland's western border further west in the south. This later caused issues at the Potsdam Conference.
Wanda helped Poles who were sent to distant parts of the Soviet Union. She sent them packages. Her help freed Polish communists who were held by Lavrentiy Beria. These included the poet Broniewski and his wife Janina Broniewska. Janina took care of Wanda's daughter Ewa during the war. When the Polish People's Army was formed, Wanda and Janina pushed for a crownless eagle as the army's emblem. This eagle was from the tomb of Bolesław III Wrymouth. This crownless eagle became the coat of arms of Poland for communist Poland (1945–89).
Stalin greatly valued Wanda's opinion. She had no communist party background before the war. She later wrote that during the war, all matters were decided through her.
After World War II
After the war, Wanda decided to stay in the Soviet Union. She stepped back from public life. She did not become an active politician in communist Poland. She lived in Kiev with Oleksandr Korniychuk, a Ukrainian playwright. Wanda spoke little Russian or Ukrainian. But she was a member of the Supreme Soviet for six terms. She often visited Poland. She was very influential in Polish affairs. Top leaders like Bierut and Berman consulted her. She also traveled often as a peace activist.
Wanda wrote to her friend Nikita Khrushchev to complain about a poem published in Poland in 1955. She saw it as anti-socialist. After Khrushchev became Soviet leader, Wanda focused more on her family. She especially cared for her grandson Peter. Family and friends from Poland often visited her. The writer John Steinbeck was also a guest. She spent time with her husband at their dacha near Kiev. But their relationship later became difficult. She developed heart problems.
Wanda Wasilewska died on July 29, 1964, in Kiev. She is buried in the Baikove Cemetery.
Her Role and Writings
Wanda Wasilewska is remembered in Poland. She symbolizes the start of the communist system after World War II. She grew up in a patriotic, intellectual, and left-wing Polish family. She slowly developed communist beliefs. She became a strong supporter of communism in Poland. She was deeply connected to the history of her time. She mixed her public and private life in her work. She challenged gender, nationality, and social class rules.
Wanda's writings were very focused on society and politics. She criticized Poland before the war. She said it treated citizens unfairly based on their social class and background. She pointed out how workers and minorities were oppressed.
After the war, Wanda left her powerful position. She took on other roles. She "played her role till the end." But she complained about health issues. Some people think her health problems showed her reaction to the pressure of her public image. She might have felt trapped in her role as a successful activist and writer.
Some believe Wanda might have been pushed out of politics in post-war Poland. This could be because she was a woman in leadership. Or because her close link to Stalin was a problem for the new authorities.
People have described Wanda in very different ways. Before 1989, she was seen as a revolutionary hero. She symbolized progress under Stalinism. Later, she became a patriotic symbol. But those against communism called her a "traitor." They often used her gender to define her. They called her "Stalin's favorite" or "Leon's disgraced daughter." Her story has been rewritten many times. This depends on who is telling it and when.
Wanda was one of the first Polish writers to follow socialist realism. This style focused on showing life in a positive, communist way. She wrote several novels and some poems. Her novel Oblicze Dnia was censored. But it was later published in a shorter form. A Russian translation was also made. The Soviet Embassy paid her for her books published in the Soviet Union. In the Soviet Union, her works were very popular. They were used as models for people to follow.
In the early 1950s, Wanda and Oleksandr Korniychuk wrote a play for an opera. It was criticized for its ideas. The authors then changed their work.
Wanda won the Stalin Prize for literature three times (1943, 1946, 1952). During Stalin's life, she was a classic Soviet writer. Her books were part of the Soviet school curriculum. Her "collected works" were published in Moscow in six volumes in 1955. But after Stalin died, she was largely forgotten as a writer.
In communist Poland, many streets and schools were named after her. She was a very famous person. After the war, some of her books were required reading in schools.
- Królewski syn (1933)
- Oblicze Dnia (1934)
- Kryształowa Kula Krzysztofa Kolumba (1934)
- Ojczyzna (1935)
- Legenda o Janie z Kolna (1936)
- Ziemia w jarzmie (1938)
- Płomień na bagnach (1940)
- Pieśń nad Wodami (a trilogy: 1940, 1950, 1952)
- Tęcza (1944)
- Po prostu miłość (1944)
- Gdy światło zapłonie (1946)
- Gwiazdy w jeziorze (1950)
- Rzeki płoną (1952)
- Pokój na poddaszu (1954)
- Że padliście w boju (1958)
See also
In Spanish: Wanda Wasilewska para niños
