Witold Makowiecki
, 1902 - 1946
Son of Zygmunt, editor at Goniec, and Zofia (née Wartałowska). At 17, immediately after finishing Mikołaj Rej High School in Warsaw, he enlisted in the army (205 Infantry Regiment) and came back after a short campaign with damaged lungs. Released from the army, he studied agriculture at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) graduating as an agricultural engineer. He moved on to study mathematics and physics at the University of Warsaw, as well as painting at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts (since 1932 Academy of Fine Arts). Financial problems forced him to abandon further studies and work at the family estate (Wólka, near Skierniewice). He was married to Wanda (née Bendarzewska); the couple had two children, Adam and Anna. As the estate gradually fails, Witold starts working as a clerk at the Ministry of Rural Reforms and later at other similar government offices. He writes poetry in his free time and wins a prize in a contest organized by the famous Polish weekly Wiadomości Literackie in 1934. When WW2 breaks out, he comes back to what is left of the family estate and tries to cultivate the land; his uncompromising attitude soon leads to conflicts with the Germans and he has to leave the estate. He lives with his family in poverty in Skierniewice during the last two years of war. His illness returns and he spends the first post-war year in bed. His wife works as a teacher in Noworadomsk where the family experiences even more acute hardships. He dies at the beginning of 1946 and is buried at Powązki Cemetery. Makowiecki leaves two manuscript novels for young people (see the entries) and a volume of poetry. Written during two and a half years under German occupation, in poverty, ill health, and under the threat of rapidly approaching death, both novels are youthfully serene and full of optimism. They combine fast action with good characters presented with deep and sincere humanity.
Sources:
Bio based on an obituary written after the Author’s demise by his brother Tadeusz Makowiecki, an artist, literary critic, and art historian; a manuscript and its typewritten copies are preserved in the Archives of the Polish Academy of Sciences, at the Stanisław Staszic Palace in Warsaw, Tadeusz Makowiecki’s files. Witold Makowiecki’s Niece, Elżbieta Makowiecka (a classical archeologist) kindly provided information on the obituary’s existence and location. Karolina Kolinek scanned the documents; the English version by Elżbieta Olechowska.
More about the author: "Makowiecki Witold", in Krystyna Kuliczkowska and Barbara Tylicka, edd., Nowy słownik literatury dla dzieci i młodzieży, Warszawa: Wiedza Powszechna, 1979, 341.
Bio prepared by Karolina Kolinek, Univeristy of Warsaw, karolinakolinek@student.uw.edu.pl
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