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Miron Białoszewski. Utwory zebrane #3
A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising
A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising is both a work of memory and a work about memory. Miron Białoszewski, the great avant-garde Polish poet, memorializes the doomed uprising of the Polish population against their Nazi masters, which began on August 1, 1944, and was eventually abandoned on October 2, 1944, with the physical destruction of Warsaw, street by street and house by house, and the slaughter of 200,000 civilians.
Yet Białoszewski begins his memoir not with an invocation of the great historical events about to unfold but with a simple observation: “Tuesday, August 1, 1944, was cloudy, humid, not too warm...and I remember that there were many trolleys, cars, and people and that right after I reached the corner of Zelazna Street, I realized what day it was (the first of August) and I thought to myself, more or less in these words: ‘August 1 is Sunflower Day.’ ”
Białoszewski concentrates on recalling the things he saw, felt, smelled, and heard. Each object is precious. Each possesses its own integrity, which the violence of the Nazis will destroy. In reclaiming these objects, Białoszewski combats the inner evil of the time he recounts, the thinking of those for whom the individual is meaningless and the moment is a fraud. In dwelling with loving concern on the cobblestones, glass jars, and the casual words people spoke in passing, Białoszewski sets himself against those for whom history justifies all actions and violence is a substitute for truth.
Białoszewski rescues memory from history. He rescues the moment from the epic sweep of the thousand-year Reich. He observes “the glaring identity of ‘now.’ ” He tells us: “That is why I am writing about this. Because it is all intermeshed. Everything. My neighborhood too. Leszno, Chlodna, and Muranow. Because the majority of my churches were there. Then the Jews. And Kochanowski. And that woman near the pillars.” In reclaiming the memory of the anonymous “woman near the pillars,” Białoszewski reaffirms the life-giving power of the imagination, which all the force of the inhuman Nazi machine could not—and cannot—obliterate.
Yet Białoszewski begins his memoir not with an invocation of the great historical events about to unfold but with a simple observation: “Tuesday, August 1, 1944, was cloudy, humid, not too warm...and I remember that there were many trolleys, cars, and people and that right after I reached the corner of Zelazna Street, I realized what day it was (the first of August) and I thought to myself, more or less in these words: ‘August 1 is Sunflower Day.’ ”
Białoszewski concentrates on recalling the things he saw, felt, smelled, and heard. Each object is precious. Each possesses its own integrity, which the violence of the Nazis will destroy. In reclaiming these objects, Białoszewski combats the inner evil of the time he recounts, the thinking of those for whom the individual is meaningless and the moment is a fraud. In dwelling with loving concern on the cobblestones, glass jars, and the casual words people spoke in passing, Białoszewski sets himself against those for whom history justifies all actions and violence is a substitute for truth.
Białoszewski rescues memory from history. He rescues the moment from the epic sweep of the thousand-year Reich. He observes “the glaring identity of ‘now.’ ” He tells us: “That is why I am writing about this. Because it is all intermeshed. Everything. My neighborhood too. Leszno, Chlodna, and Muranow. Because the majority of my churches were there. Then the Jews. And Kochanowski. And that woman near the pillars.” In reclaiming the memory of the anonymous “woman near the pillars,” Białoszewski reaffirms the life-giving power of the imagination, which all the force of the inhuman Nazi machine could not—and cannot—obliterate.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
About the author
Miron Białoszewski
57 books60 followersMiron Białoszewski – polski poeta, prozaik, dramatopisarz i aktor teatralny.
Debiutował w krakowskim "Życiu Literackim" w 1955 w ramach Prapremiery pięciu poetów obok wierszy m.in. Herberta, a pierwszy tom jego wierszy, Obroty rzeczy, ukazał się rok później. Następnie wydał tomy poetyckie: Rachunek zachciankowy (1959), Mylne wzruszenia (1961) oraz Było i było (1965).
W 1970 zasłynął jako prozaik - po wydaniu tomu Pamiętnik z powstania warszawskiego, w którym 23 lata po koszmarach wojennych spisał swe przeżycia powstańcze. Niebawem ukazały się dalsze tomy prozy: Donosy rzeczywistości (1973), Szumy zlepy, ciągi (1976) oraz Zawał (1977).
Zmarł 17 czerwca 1983 po kolejnym zawale serca.
Debiutował w krakowskim "Życiu Literackim" w 1955 w ramach Prapremiery pięciu poetów obok wierszy m.in. Herberta, a pierwszy tom jego wierszy, Obroty rzeczy, ukazał się rok później. Następnie wydał tomy poetyckie: Rachunek zachciankowy (1959), Mylne wzruszenia (1961) oraz Było i było (1965).
W 1970 zasłynął jako prozaik - po wydaniu tomu Pamiętnik z powstania warszawskiego, w którym 23 lata po koszmarach wojennych spisał swe przeżycia powstańcze. Niebawem ukazały się dalsze tomy prozy: Donosy rzeczywistości (1973), Szumy zlepy, ciągi (1976) oraz Zawał (1977).
Zmarł 17 czerwca 1983 po kolejnym zawale serca.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews
January 16, 2011
Milosz calls Bialoszewski “a poet of dirty staircases” who “questions the communicative function of language, and substitutes for words mumblings and mutterings”. This only becomes obvious when one reads his excellent “A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising” (1970), which, to the unwitting reader, is strange to say the least; he writes as if he is associating ideas or objects with memories and vice-versa. There is a rambling logic to it all made more pertinent when one realises that Bialoszewski took no part in the Rising and thus simply relates his experiences as a passenger, trying to focus on some sense of normality in the cruel surreality of history.
As an eyewitness to the fighting and death itself, Białoszewski manages to create a sense of almost everydayness but also confusion to the death and threat of death. As a civilian he is a mere bystander,an individual, alone, watching, sometimes whilst cowering, sometimes in a surreal normality, as the fighting and chaos whirls around him. There is the constant search for a safe place, for water. The ever-present threat of death is there but all at a personal level - our level, not the anonymity of history. One vision stands out in my memory of tanks on the streets outside the rubble of Białoszewski's refuge - like something out of "War of the Worlds". And "War of the Worlds" it is; ants displaced by the uncaring boot of war.
As an eyewitness to the fighting and death itself, Białoszewski manages to create a sense of almost everydayness but also confusion to the death and threat of death. As a civilian he is a mere bystander,an individual, alone, watching, sometimes whilst cowering, sometimes in a surreal normality, as the fighting and chaos whirls around him. There is the constant search for a safe place, for water. The ever-present threat of death is there but all at a personal level - our level, not the anonymity of history. One vision stands out in my memory of tanks on the streets outside the rubble of Białoszewski's refuge - like something out of "War of the Worlds". And "War of the Worlds" it is; ants displaced by the uncaring boot of war.
October 15, 2015
A valuable contribution to the canon of the Warsaw Uprising
Miron Białoszewski’s book is not the standard documentary account you would expect. He describes the civilian experience of the Uprising as an observer rather than an active participant despite being of military age at the time.
The Uprising numbers beggar belief. Of a prewar population of 1.3 million, 150,000 civilians and 18,000 underground soldier killed, and this is excluding 400,000 Jews who were sent to their deaths from 1939-43.
The book itself reads more like a stream of thought, rather than a coherent, chronologically accurate history.
This makes the account it all the more vivid and compelling as the confusion of events seems to accurately reflect the chaos and confusion of the civilian experience.
A valuable contribution to the paucity of books in English detailing the civilian experience of Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
Miron Białoszewski’s book is not the standard documentary account you would expect. He describes the civilian experience of the Uprising as an observer rather than an active participant despite being of military age at the time.
The Uprising numbers beggar belief. Of a prewar population of 1.3 million, 150,000 civilians and 18,000 underground soldier killed, and this is excluding 400,000 Jews who were sent to their deaths from 1939-43.
The book itself reads more like a stream of thought, rather than a coherent, chronologically accurate history.
This makes the account it all the more vivid and compelling as the confusion of events seems to accurately reflect the chaos and confusion of the civilian experience.
A valuable contribution to the paucity of books in English detailing the civilian experience of Warsaw Uprising of 1944.
December 16, 2022
Whilst this book vividly and relentlessly brings a battered, bruised and bombed-out Warsaw to life in the sixty-two days of the uprising, the continuous combat action, and its aftermath, it is the staccato and sometimes ungrammatical prose - clearly the work of an unconventional poet - that breaths new life to the subject, away from the traditional treatment of WW2 literature. The way he handles memory for one thing felt really innovative and gave a fresh perspective on the plain and simple ways of recalling imagery from one's past. It's an intensely told and unredeeming personal story, that sort of toys with the idea of a memoir. Białoszewski, who didn't actually fight in the uprising, is reflective when it comes to the memories of some twenty years earlier, but the narrative also has another voice; the younger twenty-two-year-old Białoszewski who writes of the mundane experiences of everyday life for the residents as they are actually happening, before the true horrors of a Warsaw on the brink of death has come around. I can't argue that it's an original and refreshing way to go about writing something that is clearly of great importance to him, but I couldn't help but find something altogether childish about this approach, which never truly reflected upon the great national sacrifice felt across the whole of Poland when it comes to it's biggest war effort against the Nazis. Is this an experience that really needed to be played about with like it were poetry? With its rapid and fragmented non-literary wildness, I'm sure it was a real pain in the ass to translate, so I'd imagine it works better in its original language only. I'm torn between three and four stars, but will settle with three as it's not a book I'll remember in the long run like many other WW2 books I've read.
September 20, 2020
Kawał znakomitej literatury. Za jakiś czas będę znów czytał.
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September 11, 2024
dopiero po takich wspomnieniach cywila człowiek jest w stanie wyobrazić sobie skalę oddziaływania powstania na absolutnie każdy aspekt życia każdej istoty znajdującej się w obrębie miasta. no i język Białoszewskigo >
May 2, 2024
3.3/5
March 17, 2020
Powstanie warszawskie z punktu widzenia mieszkańca Warszawy, który przez 63 dni mieszkał w piwnicach i gruzowiskach, szukał jedzenia i wody, walczył z wszami i starał się przeżyć, liczył pociski i oceniał jak daleko spadają. Opisywane okoliczności są dramatyczne, ale Białoszewski mówi przede wszystkim o swoim i rodziny codziennym (prze)życiu: co zjeść, gdzie spać. Właśnie "mówi", a nie "pisze", bo narracja naśladuje język mówiony. Mamy więc tu dużo krótkich zdań równoważników, powtórzeń, przypominania sobie na bieżąco, jest nerwowość, staranie by opowiedzieć dokładnie, by to w końcu z siebie wyrzucić. Nie ma tu oceny Powstania, nie ma pretensji, ale jest dokument, który sķłania do refleksji i pokazuje Powstanie odarte z propagandowej aureoli, tu są kupy, trupy, wszy, krew i gruzy.
December 3, 2018
Beznadzieja
July 3, 2019
Warsaw, Poland suffered horribly during WWII. Occupied by the Germans in the 1st month of the war, its Jewish population was cruelly destroyed in 1943 following an uprising aimed at halting their slow deportation to death camps, and in the summer of 1944 the German army completed what was Hitler's longterm goal, the complete destruction of the city following the uprising by the Polish underground and Home Army. By July 1944 the advancing Soviet armies had driven the German army back to the city on the west bank of the Vistula River. The Polish resistance and organized forces began actions against the occupying Germans. It was thought the Polish resistance would aid the Soviets in taking the city, and it was thought the Soviets would help in driving the Germans from the city. But the Soviets stopped at the Vistula. Their cessation of combat operations and refusal to help the Poles allowed the German units to defeat the Polish resistance and to destroy the city as an act of retribution.
Miron Bialoszewski's memoir remembers his experiences during the 2 months of the battle for the city, August and September. At the time he was 22-years old, but he didn't take part in the fighting. He and his family spent their time hiding from the systematic German destruction of the city, struggling to find food and water, and moving from spot to spot in order to avoid the constant shelling and air attacks. Though the 2 months were a time of constant fear, danger, and death, he doesn't write graphically about the human carnage, though it's estimated 200,000 of the city's peopled died. In fact, little fighting is described at all. He mostly takes note of neighborhoods and familiar buildings burning or collapsed. He records the fates of friends and acquaintances as they experience the danger together, putting resources and ingenuity together in order to survive. There is a remarkable extended account of a movement from one part of the city to another part through nighttime sewers, literally under the feet of German units. By the end of September the Germans, under no pressure from the Soviets across the river, had eliminated the Polish resistance. The city's populace was moved to work camps. What remained of the city was burned and demolished.
The story of the Warsaw Uprising is a much larger one than Bialoszewski's narrow frame, but his book is an interesting, gripping read. It was written in the 1960s after he'd established a reputation as a poet and playwright. He admits he may have forgotten some events and misremembered others. He knew how to write, though, making this a more riveting read than you might expect. In particular, his use of single descriptive words adds to the immediacy of events.
Miron Bialoszewski's memoir remembers his experiences during the 2 months of the battle for the city, August and September. At the time he was 22-years old, but he didn't take part in the fighting. He and his family spent their time hiding from the systematic German destruction of the city, struggling to find food and water, and moving from spot to spot in order to avoid the constant shelling and air attacks. Though the 2 months were a time of constant fear, danger, and death, he doesn't write graphically about the human carnage, though it's estimated 200,000 of the city's peopled died. In fact, little fighting is described at all. He mostly takes note of neighborhoods and familiar buildings burning or collapsed. He records the fates of friends and acquaintances as they experience the danger together, putting resources and ingenuity together in order to survive. There is a remarkable extended account of a movement from one part of the city to another part through nighttime sewers, literally under the feet of German units. By the end of September the Germans, under no pressure from the Soviets across the river, had eliminated the Polish resistance. The city's populace was moved to work camps. What remained of the city was burned and demolished.
The story of the Warsaw Uprising is a much larger one than Bialoszewski's narrow frame, but his book is an interesting, gripping read. It was written in the 1960s after he'd established a reputation as a poet and playwright. He admits he may have forgotten some events and misremembered others. He knew how to write, though, making this a more riveting read than you might expect. In particular, his use of single descriptive words adds to the immediacy of events.
June 7, 2023
Ada shares my book hoarding. She’s bought several tomes on Europe including A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising by Miron Białoszewski, but is still working her way slowly through a history of the Winter War. That gave me plenty of time to borrow this.
November 12, 2024
Przynajmniej narracja była dynamiczna
October 4, 2020
„Śmierć była zasadą. Największą możliwością. Prawie jedyną. Prawie jak sto procent.”
Proza Białoszewskiego jest jedyna w swoim rodzaju. Chwilami bardzo gęsta jednak nie przytłaczająca. Pobudza wyobraźnię. Książka ważna, potrzebna i obowiązkowa. W natłoku dzisiejszych bestselerów zakłamujących historię i nie zasługujących na miano literatury wojennej/obozowej ta książka wydaje się być trochę zapomniana. Czytajmy Mirona bo jego proza jest unikatowa - tak jak unikatowe było jego życie.
Proza Białoszewskiego jest jedyna w swoim rodzaju. Chwilami bardzo gęsta jednak nie przytłaczająca. Pobudza wyobraźnię. Książka ważna, potrzebna i obowiązkowa. W natłoku dzisiejszych bestselerów zakłamujących historię i nie zasługujących na miano literatury wojennej/obozowej ta książka wydaje się być trochę zapomniana. Czytajmy Mirona bo jego proza jest unikatowa - tak jak unikatowe było jego życie.
March 11, 2022
Niezwykły opis przeżyć cywila w trakcie Powstania Warszawskiego. Wspaniały, czuły, znajomy język Białoszewskiego. Mrugnięcia okiem do queerowego czytelnika. Niekończące się uciekanie spowodowane niemożliwością ucieknięcia.
January 31, 2018
Had to read this for school, but it ended it up both suprising and shocking me in ways only war can. Review to come soon
April 3, 2021
Raczej nie dla mnie 🤷♀️
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August 20, 2025w czasach kryzysu robi się to samo, co w czasach niekryzysu, tylko upycha się to w gruzach, znajduje się tylne wyjścia, staje na głowie, ryzykuje życiem, nurkuje w kanałach i bunkrach - żyje się, mimo wszystko, bo nadal trzeba coś jeść i mieć gdzie to jedzenie po strawieniu wydalić, i to w taki sposób, żeby nie doprowadzić do epidemii; podstawowe potrzeby nie znikają
ludzie umierają i ktoś ich chowa; nudzą się i szukają zabawy; boją się i trzymają się blisko, i o tym wszystkim pisze Białoszewski, cywil w powstaniu, obserwator, czasami uczestnik budowania barykad z płyt chodnikowych, okazjonalnie posłaniec po wodę czy nosiciel rannych
oderwane kończyny spadają z nieba, kamienice się walą, zwłoki leżą rzucone, zapychają kanały, ludzie żywią się kawą z sucharami i cieszą się z pękniętej rury, w której można wyprać ubrania, matki gotują dzieciom z przerwami na stanie we framudze, bo tam podczas bombardowania najstabilniej, wszy znajdują głowy, bomby znajdują ostatnie studnie, życie dopasowuje się do katastrofy - obok dzieje się historia, ale trzeba też spać w nocy
daję teraz wyraz frustracji związanej z edukacją historyczną w szkołach, ponieważ gdyby dzieje cywilów potraktować poważnie, nie tworzyć z nich tła dla żołnierzy, jakkolwiek byśmy ich nie oceniali, może łatwiej przyszłoby niektórym zrozumienie sytuacji innych mimowolnych uczestników wojskowych gier globalnych mocarstw i faszystowskich teokracji - jak w przypadku sytuacji systematycznie mordowanej cywilnej ludności Palestyny
Białoszewskiego nie tyle warto (choć to też), co należy przeczytać
ludzie umierają i ktoś ich chowa; nudzą się i szukają zabawy; boją się i trzymają się blisko, i o tym wszystkim pisze Białoszewski, cywil w powstaniu, obserwator, czasami uczestnik budowania barykad z płyt chodnikowych, okazjonalnie posłaniec po wodę czy nosiciel rannych
oderwane kończyny spadają z nieba, kamienice się walą, zwłoki leżą rzucone, zapychają kanały, ludzie żywią się kawą z sucharami i cieszą się z pękniętej rury, w której można wyprać ubrania, matki gotują dzieciom z przerwami na stanie we framudze, bo tam podczas bombardowania najstabilniej, wszy znajdują głowy, bomby znajdują ostatnie studnie, życie dopasowuje się do katastrofy - obok dzieje się historia, ale trzeba też spać w nocy
daję teraz wyraz frustracji związanej z edukacją historyczną w szkołach, ponieważ gdyby dzieje cywilów potraktować poważnie, nie tworzyć z nich tła dla żołnierzy, jakkolwiek byśmy ich nie oceniali, może łatwiej przyszłoby niektórym zrozumienie sytuacji innych mimowolnych uczestników wojskowych gier globalnych mocarstw i faszystowskich teokracji - jak w przypadku sytuacji systematycznie mordowanej cywilnej ludności Palestyny
Białoszewskiego nie tyle warto (choć to też), co należy przeczytać
October 25, 2025
This was an electrifying book.
Usually WWII memoirs are told by fighters, those who make the command decisions or those who are fighting on the ground. "A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising" is by a non-combatant. The author was a college student in 1944. (He clearly supports the Uprising, and he carried stretchers and moved rubble to build barricades, but he did not carry or use a weapon.)
I can see how some readers might be put off by all the Polish street names, and it seems like every street in Warsaw, certainly every neighborhood, gets mentioned, but the book is written with a sense of urgency, as if the author is telling you about this most important event. (Bravo to the translator for capturing this urgency.) His account of going through the sewers is remarkable.
The version I read was utterly frank about stuff. (Apparently early versions were censored.) He mentions the fate of the (Jewish) Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, and he talks about Soviet inaction during the early part of the Uprising. But he makes it clear that there was some support from that side of the river late in September.
What was new to me was his emphasis on German air power in crushing the Uprising. I had never read about that aspect of the fighting, but it was certainly important to this memoirist.
He also is frank in discussing g/i disorders as the living conditions worsen.
Bialoszewski's memoir is essential WWII reading.
Usually WWII memoirs are told by fighters, those who make the command decisions or those who are fighting on the ground. "A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising" is by a non-combatant. The author was a college student in 1944. (He clearly supports the Uprising, and he carried stretchers and moved rubble to build barricades, but he did not carry or use a weapon.)
I can see how some readers might be put off by all the Polish street names, and it seems like every street in Warsaw, certainly every neighborhood, gets mentioned, but the book is written with a sense of urgency, as if the author is telling you about this most important event. (Bravo to the translator for capturing this urgency.) His account of going through the sewers is remarkable.
The version I read was utterly frank about stuff. (Apparently early versions were censored.) He mentions the fate of the (Jewish) Warsaw Ghetto in 1943, and he talks about Soviet inaction during the early part of the Uprising. But he makes it clear that there was some support from that side of the river late in September.
What was new to me was his emphasis on German air power in crushing the Uprising. I had never read about that aspect of the fighting, but it was certainly important to this memoirist.
He also is frank in discussing g/i disorders as the living conditions worsen.
Bialoszewski's memoir is essential WWII reading.
May 3, 2022
An invaluable look into civilian life in the cellars during the uprising. The writing is deliberate in its chaotic style. Fragmented, flawed, and true to the fleetingness of one's memory. I'd recommend prior reading on the subject matter in order to help navigate the course of the narrative. Useful as well are the maps in the back of the book that help visualize the author's disorienting and constant movement through the Polish capital.
April 1, 2022
Książka doskonała dla kogoś kto się zastanawia jak dokładnie mogło wyglądać powstanie oczami cywilów,lecz opisy trochę zbyt monotonne w niektórych częściach książki
December 5, 2022
bumped up the rating to 5 stars because it's just impossible to get this book out of your head
March 11, 2023
"tutaj nie panowała pierwotna jaskiniowa wspólnota"
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November 15, 2024Treść jest bardzo interesująca i wstrząsająca, ale forma nie przypadła mi do gustu. Bardzo nie lubię aż takiego minimalizmu w budowaniu zdań, dla mnie to pójście na łatwiznę.
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December 17, 2024Dreadful translation. Idioms are translated literally, word for word, because the translator is clearly not a native speaker.
January 7, 2025
określenie powstania przygodą, w której się umiera jest dla mnie mocno nie na miejscu
June 14, 2025
nie spodziewałam się, że aż tak mnie zaciekawi
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March 25, 2026Wartościowo jest poznać cywilną (ok. 95% ludności) perspektywę
April 20, 2026
w jednym momencie się popłakałam
May 29, 2021
Wooow... To było NIESAMOWITE. Lektura z początku może wydawać się chaotyczna ze względu na swoją formę, lecz to nadaje jej charakteru i sprawia że nie da się od niej oderwać. Trudność może sprawiać duża ilość nazw ulic Warszawy, nie znając tego miasta, jednak w moim wydaniu załączone zostały dwie mapy z zaznaczonymi miejscami i datami wydarzeń opisanych w utworze. Ten dodatek niesamowicie ułatwił zrozumienie lektury. Chłodny styl opisywania strasznych wydarzeń powstania warszawskiego z perspektywy cywila pasuje idealnie, pozwalając nam odkryć fakty jednocześnie nie narzucając w jaki sposób mamy przeżywać. Myślę że ten utwór każdy odbierze inaczej na niektórych zrobi mniejsze lub większe wrażenie, ale z pewnością nikt nie przejdzie obok tych wydarzeń obojętnie. Uważam, że jest to pozycja obowiązkowa i zachęcam do własnego zagłębienia się w lekturę. Ja pokochałam ją całym sercem ❤️
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April 20, 2016a remarkable memoir in that it makes you tense in a way that others who recorded these events do not. There is constant running and scattering, constant bombings and shootings. I felt my jaw tighten. There are short sentences and poetry and singing. There are descriptions of the sewers. The gray poles and the dust and the pipes of basements. Lists of streets and buildings that have been destroyed. Eventually, the whole city is destroyed, it is all rubble.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 100 reviews