Józef Hen
| Józef Hen | |
|---|---|
Hen in 2014
|
|
| Born |
Józef Henryk Cukier November 8, 1923 Warsaw, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Occupation | Writer, novelist, playwright, screenwriter |
| Known for | Writing |
Józef Hen, originally Józef Henryk Cukier (born November 8, 1923 in Warsaw), is a Polish novelist, essayist, playwright, screenwriter, and reporter of Jewish origin.
Born November 8, 1923 in Warsaw in the family home on Nowolipie Street. He completed gimnazjum at the age of sixteen at M. Krynski's school. As a child he contributed to The Little Review, a Friday supplement to an adult daily, written entirely by children and founded by the great educator Janusz Korczak.
After the German invasion of Poland in September 1939, he remained in Warsaw, but fled the capital in November to escape the German occupation. He spent the war in the Soviet Union. He first worked on construction of a highway from Lvov to Kiev, then went to Samarkand in Uzbekistan. Despite his good health, he was not accepted into the Anders' Army in exile. In 1944, he joined the rival Polish People's Army in exile and also published his poem Łódź Wierna (Faithful Łódź) in a magazine Voice of the Soldier. During the war, he lost his father, killed in 1945 in Buchenwald, his brother Moses (b. 1920), who disappeared in the Soviet Union, and his sister Mirka (1917-1942). His mother and sister Stella (b. 1915) survived the war. In 1944 he adopted the pen name "Hen", which in time began to serve as his legal name. Immediately after the war he was editor of the weekly The Polish Soldier. By the end of his military service in 1952, he had attained the rank of Captain.
Already in 1947, he had published his first book, Kiev, Tashkent, Berlin. This history of his wanderings was considered a promising debut. Subsequently, he worked as a reporter and wrote short stories, historical fiction and novels for both adults and adolescents. He also wrote screenplays, which sometimes he directed, including the film Buses Like Turtles. Some of his works were filmed in the 1960s, including The Cross of Valour, No One is Calling, April and Law and the Fist. Later came the film The Crime and his script for An Ancient Tale: When the Sun Was a God. He also scripted a historical serial Royal Dreams, later published in book form. His articles appeared in the weekly World.
...
Wikipedia