Ignacy Fik

Who is Ignacy Fik?

Ignacy Fik was a Polish poet, essayist, literary critic and political activist. He was the father of the theatre historian Marta Fik.

Born in Przeciszów, he attended high school in Wadowice and then studied Polish literature at Jagiellonian University and Jan Kazimierz University. Imprisoned for several months in 1925 for his political activities, he worked mostly as a teacher, while contributing literary criticism to leftist magazines such as Nasz Wyraz and Sygnały.

He was the author of several books of poetry, including Kłamstwa lustra and Plakaty na murze, of essays such as "Uwagi nad językiem Cypriana Norwida", and of the critical survey Dwadzieścia lat literatury polskiej. His outlook was Marxist and in the essay "Literatura choromaniaków" he condemned the work of Bruno Schulz and Witold Gombrowicz as degenerate.

Upon the German invasion he founded the Communist group "R" with his wife Helena Moskwianka and edited underground magazines. He was arrested by the Gestapo in October 1942, and shot in a mass execution at Kraków.