Postal Indiscretions: The Correspondence of Tadeusz Borowski

by Tadeusz Borowski, Alicia Nitecki (Translator), Tadeusz Drewnowski (Editor)

In a brief life deeply and traumatically disrupted by two years in concentration camps as a political prisoner, Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951) was tragically destined to become one of the most eloquent witnesses to the Holocaust in Poland. His recollections and stories, the most famous of which is This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen , document in stark historical, literary, and personal terms the experience of the camps and its cost to humanity.  ​

This correspondence in this volume expands on the insights of Borowski’s published work and extends to the less-documented aftermath of the Holocaust in postwar Poland and East Germany. The volume opens with Borowski’s letter to his mother from Pawiak Prison the day after his arrest and closes with an unsigned telegram informing his parents of his suicide. The letters to and from family members, friends, and literary figures offer an indispensable picture of the world in the wake of the Nazis—and of the indelible stain that experience left upon the literature, politics, and life of Eastern Europe, in particular upon one gifted and doomed writer.

416 pages, Hardcover

First published May 31, 2013

About the author

Tadeusz Borowski (1922-1951) - prozaik, poeta, publicysta. Urodził się w Żytomierzu w Ukrainie, zmarł śmiercią samobójczą w Warszawie. Studiował polonistykę na podziemnym Uniwersytecie Warszawskim, brał aktywny udział w podziemnym życiu kulturalnym w czasie wojny. W 1943 roku został aresztowany, trafił do obozu koncentracyjnego w Oświęcimiu, następnie przetransportowano go między innymi do Dachau. W 1946 roku powrócił do kraju. Po 1948 roku stał się zwolennikiem partii komunistycznej, a swoją twórczość podporządkował założeniom realizmu socjalistycznego. Zadebiutował w 1942 roku cyklem wierszy Gdziekolwiek ziemia. W 1948 roku opublikował dwa tomy opowiadań - Pożegnanie z Marią i Kamienny świat - które spotkały się z szerokim odzewem.

Reviews

[Renee · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important piece of work and well done. In reading this you get to experience the life and times of the writer and poet Tadeusz Borowski with his circle of family, friends and associates ... to an extent. It was enough for me to appreciate the life that was and make me want to explore further his work and the social issues that plagued the European continent at that time in human history. I am grateful that the correspondence gathered to complete this book still exists.

[Meaghan]

I didn't finish this one. It's not going to be of any value unless you know a lot about Tadeusz Borowski and Polish literature in general -- neither of which applies to me. Only one of Borowski's books has been translated into English, and I didn't even know he'd written anything else until I started this book. All the references etc. in the letters meant nothing to me and I realized that completing this book would not be a productive enterprise. Not saying it's a bad book -- I'm not even qualified to offer an opinion, because I don't know enough about the topic, that's all.