Waclaw Ivanuk

Waclaw Ivanuk was born on 17 December 1912. in Stara Chojna near Chełm in Poland. Educated in Warsaw, he made his first literary attempts before the war, publishing poems. The outbreak of World War II found him on a consular practice in Buenos Aires, from where he returned to Europe to join the army. He was a soldier in the Podhala Byska Brigade and fought at Narwik. He tried to get to Gibraltar after the fall of France but was hospitalized. He spent time in a Spanish prison in Girona, then for three years in the Miranda de Ebro camp.

After his discharge in 1943, he went to Manchester, where he was assigned to the 1st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment of the 1st Armoured Division in Scotland. He took part in the landing on the continent as an anti-aircraft artillery observer. As a soldier, he distinguished himself with courage. Among the many medals awarded to Ivanuk was the Warrior's Cross for his participation in the Battle of Falaise. He served in the Polish Resettlement Corps in Great Britain until 3 October 947. He ended the war with the rank of lieutenant.

Direct war memories did not dominate his life. On the other hand, the experience of the limitless sacrifice of the Polish soldier and the epilogue in the form of the enslavement of the Homeland after 1945 did. The Soviet yoke was a recurring trauma for him, which with the feeling of loneliness and longing for Poland, appeared in his work.

He published poetic works created during the war in the military press: "Fighting Poland" (1943-1944) and "Defilada" (1945). In 1950 they were collected as a separate collection in the Parisian "Culture" magazine.

Jerzy Giedroyć considered him one of the few in the emigration environment of true literary talents. He was a longtime friend and colleague, not only as a poet, but also a literary critic. In 1959 he published his volume "Silence." by the Literary Institute 1949-1959. Five years later, he won of the Literary Award "Culture", which resulted in the publication of another selection of his poems. His best volume is considered "Dark time" from 1968, published also in the Library of Culture. The last volume published by Ivanuk at the Literary Institute is "My sides of the world" from 1994. From 1980, he has published in ("Zapis" and "Ark") and in the Catholic press: "Bond" and "Weekly Weekly".

Wacław Ivanuk published a total of over 20 poetic volumes.

After demobilization he remained in England. In May 1949, he emigrated to Toronto, where he was one of the leading figures in Polish artistic-literary life. He obtained Canadian citizenship in 1959, but he always missed his homeland Poland - the place of his birth and youth. In Canada, he had various jobs: working in slaughterhouses, selling rugs, to finally working as an interpreter in a court in the province od Ontario. In Communist-ruled Poland he never received a visa because he was considered a spy. He was an anti-communist and many times in his statements he condemned the PRL regime. He visited Poland only in 1991 to attend the Congress of the Union of Polish Writers Abroad.

Waclaw died on 4 January 2001 in Toronto. In 2006. his ashes were brought to Poland, where a solemn funeral took place at the parish cemetery in Siedliszcz near Chełm and his memory lives on in the local community.