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Holy Week: A Novel of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
At the height of the Nazi extermination campaign in the Warsaw Ghetto, a young Jewish woman, Irena, seeks the protection of her former lover, a young architect, Jan Malecki. By taking her in, he puts his own life and the safety of his family at risk. Over a four-day period, Tuesday through Friday of Holy Week 1943, as Irena becomes increasingly traumatized by her situation, Malecki questions his decision to shelter Irena in the apartment where Malecki, his pregnant wife, and his younger brother reside. Added to his dilemma is the broader context of Poles’ attitudes toward the “Jewish question” and the plight of the Jews locked in the ghetto during the final moments of its existence.Few fictional works dealing with the war have been written so close in time to the events that inspired them. No other Polish novel treats the range of Polish attitudes toward the Jews with such unflinching honesty.Jerzy Andrzejewski’s Holy Week (Wielki Tydzien, 1945), one of the significant literary works to be published immediately following the Second World War, now appears in English for the first time.This translation of Andrzejewski’s Holy Week began as a group project in an advanced Polish language course at the University of Pittsburgh. Class members Daniel M. Pennell, Anna M. Poukish, and Matthew J. Russin contributed to the translation; the instructor, Oscar E. Swan, was responsible for the overall accuracy and stylistic unity of the translation as well as for the biographical and critical notes and essays.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
About the author
Jerzy Andrzejewski
50 books50 followersJerzy Andrzejewski was a Polish novelist, short-story writer, and political dissident noted for his attention to moral issues important in 20th-century Poland and for his realistic fiction.
Andrzejewski was born into a middle-class family, and the young writer studied Polish language and literature at the University of Warsaw. The stories published in his first book, Drogi nieuniknione (1936; “Unavoidable Ways”), originally appeared in a right-wing periodical, with whom he soon severed relations. That volume was followed by the novel Ład serca (1938; “Heart’s Harmony”), in which Andrzejewski tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the German occupation of World War II, he participated in the Polish underground.
After World War II, Andrzejewski wrote Noc (1945; “Night”), a collection of wartime stories, and, together with Jerzy Zagórski, a satirical drama, Swięto Winkelrida (1946; “Winkelried’s Feast”). Contemporary political problems are projected in Popiół i diament (1948; Ashes and Diamonds), translated into 27 languages and generally considered his finest novel. It presents a dramatic conflict between young Polish patriots and the communist regime during the last days of World War II. In 1958 Andrzej Wajda, the leading director of the Polish cinema, directed a movie based on the book and bearing the same title.
In 1949 Andrzejewski joined the Communist Party, and for the next seven years he supported its ideology in his essays, but in 1956 he gave up membership and established himself as one of the principal critics of the party’s policies, both in his creative writings and in his activities. In 1976 he became one of the cofounders of the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR), from which eventually grew the anticommunist trade union Solidarity, outlawed in 1981. Andrzejewski also coedited Zapis (1977–81), a literary magazine publishing dissident writers. Andrzejewski’s novels Ciemności kryją ziemię (1957; The Inquisitors) and Bramy raju (1960; The Gates of Paradise) present modern problems disguised as historical novels, while Apelacja (1968; The Appeal) and Miazga (1981; “The Pulp”) directly address the issues of contemporary society.
Andrzejewski’s life and work seem to be emblematic for many Polish intellectuals of his generation—from his ardent Catholicism before the war to his heroic involvement with the Resistance during the Nazi occupation, through his subsequent skepticism, to his total acceptance of the Marxist ideology after the war, and, finally, to his disillusionment with and open dissent against communism. His short stories and novels, Ashes and Diamonds in particular, can be read as a moving testimony to his development.
Andrzejewski was born into a middle-class family, and the young writer studied Polish language and literature at the University of Warsaw. The stories published in his first book, Drogi nieuniknione (1936; “Unavoidable Ways”), originally appeared in a right-wing periodical, with whom he soon severed relations. That volume was followed by the novel Ład serca (1938; “Heart’s Harmony”), in which Andrzejewski tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the German occupation of World War II, he participated in the Polish underground.
After World War II, Andrzejewski wrote Noc (1945; “Night”), a collection of wartime stories, and, together with Jerzy Zagórski, a satirical drama, Swięto Winkelrida (1946; “Winkelried’s Feast”). Contemporary political problems are projected in Popiół i diament (1948; Ashes and Diamonds), translated into 27 languages and generally considered his finest novel. It presents a dramatic conflict between young Polish patriots and the communist regime during the last days of World War II. In 1958 Andrzej Wajda, the leading director of the Polish cinema, directed a movie based on the book and bearing the same title.
In 1949 Andrzejewski joined the Communist Party, and for the next seven years he supported its ideology in his essays, but in 1956 he gave up membership and established himself as one of the principal critics of the party’s policies, both in his creative writings and in his activities. In 1976 he became one of the cofounders of the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR), from which eventually grew the anticommunist trade union Solidarity, outlawed in 1981. Andrzejewski also coedited Zapis (1977–81), a literary magazine publishing dissident writers. Andrzejewski’s novels Ciemności kryją ziemię (1957; The Inquisitors) and Bramy raju (1960; The Gates of Paradise) present modern problems disguised as historical novels, while Apelacja (1968; The Appeal) and Miazga (1981; “The Pulp”) directly address the issues of contemporary society.
Andrzejewski’s life and work seem to be emblematic for many Polish intellectuals of his generation—from his ardent Catholicism before the war to his heroic involvement with the Resistance during the Nazi occupation, through his subsequent skepticism, to his total acceptance of the Marxist ideology after the war, and, finally, to his disillusionment with and open dissent against communism. His short stories and novels, Ashes and Diamonds in particular, can be read as a moving testimony to his development.
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September 27, 2026
So wichtig und so gut. Auch sehr schlimm zu lesen aber ich fand’s total spannend die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven darauf zu lesen, was gut und richtig ist und welches Leben einem am wichtigsten ist - das eigene oder andere. Würde ich auf jeden Fall empfehlen!
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review