Pictures of the Soviet Occupation in Sergiusz Piasecki's Człowiek przemieniony w wilka (A Man Turned to a Wolf)

Abstract

Sergiusz Piasecki, one of the most important Polish emigration writers, in the first volume of the series Wieża Babel (Tower of Babel), that is in Człowiek przemieniony w wilka, gives a multi-faceted, original and penetrating picture of the tragic events of 1939-1941 in the Eastern borderlands of Poland. In his work he presents a pessimistic picture of the enemies, Soviet soldiers; he sees and analyzes the sacred dimension of Communist propaganda (as an element of a new cult). He describes on many levels working of the omnipresent terror, and perceives the cause of its surprising efficiency in the newly conquered lands in widespread collaboration of representatives of the lower classes with the enemy. He polemicizes with the prevalent view that the activities carried out by Lithuanian nationalists during the occupation were only slightly harmful and he almost treats their deeds as equal to the actions carried out by the Soviet invaders. At the same time he harshly criticizes the ZWZ/AK underground army for their lack of imagination and incompetence. And finally, he shows the gloomy life of Poles in the Vilnius region, where they were persecuted by the authorities' terror and lived in grinding poverty caused by the loss of their social position, but also by mass robberies.