Kazimierz Brandys

Who was Kazimierz Brandys?

Kazimierz Brandys was a Polish essayist and writer of film scripts.

Brandys was born in Łódź. He was the brother of the writer Marian Brandys and husband of the translator Maria Zenowicz. He completed a law degree at the University of Warsaw. He was first published in 1935 as a theatrical critic, in the literary monthly ""Kuźnia Młodych". Between 1945 and 1950 he was a member of the editorial board of the weekly "Kuźnica". In 1946 he joined the Polish United Workers' Party. Beginning in 1956 he was the spokesperson for the party's program of "renewal" and "moral cleansing". Between 1956 and 1960 he was on the editorial board of the weekly "Nowa Kultura". In 1966 he left the communist party as a protest against repressions against Leszek Kołakowski. In 1970 and 1971 he taught Slavistics at the Sorbonne. In 1976 he signed the Letter of 59, a protest against changes to the constitution of the People's Republic of Poland. Between 1977 and 1980 he was on the editorial board of "Zapis". After 1978 he lived outside of Poland. He died in 2000, in Paris.