Mackiewicz, Józef.

Józef Mackiewicz (1902-1985) was a Polish novelist, journalist, and publicist. He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1902 and in 1907 his family moved to Wilno, Poland. He fought as a Polish volunteer in the Soviet-Polish war of 1920 and studied at Warsaw University. He worked in Wilno (under Polish control 1920-1939) as a journalist until the Red Army drove him west in 1945. He spent the rest of his life in exile in Rome, then London, and finally Munich. He was the brother of journalist Stanisław Mackiewicz (1896-1966), and the husband of writer Barbara Toporska (1913-1985).

His first venture as a writer was in 1922 in the Vilnius-based daily newspaper Słowo ( The Word. ). He later wrote semi-documentary historical novels on the fate of the Poles and other ethnic groups during World War II and also wrote about the 1919-1921 Polish-Bolshevik war. He wrote consistently anti-communist political journalism, stories, and memoirs.

From the guide to the Józef Mackiewicz papers, 1945-1970., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University)