Kazimierz Dejmek
Kazimierz Dejmek (17 May 1924 – 31 December 2002) was a Polish actor, theatre and film director, and politician. During his career he managed the New Theatre in Łódź (since 2008 named after him), the National Theatre, Warsaw, and the Teatr Polski, Warsaw. From 1993 to 1996 he served as Poland's Minister of Culture. In 1984 Dejmek was awarded the Witkacy Prize - Critics' Circle Award and in 1989 the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of his country's highest honours.
Life and career
Kazimierz Dejmek was born in Kowel (now in Ukraine) in 1924 and attended school in Rzeszów. During World War II he was a partisan in the Peasants' Party Special Units and in 1943 joined Poland's Home Army. Shortly after leaving the army in 1944, he made his debut as an actor in Rzeszów playing Jasiek in Stanisław Wyspiański's The Wedding. In the years 1945 - 1949 he performed in the Lower Silesian Theatre in Jelenia Góra (now Cyprian Norwid Theatre) and the Wojska Polskiego Theatre in Łódź and studied at the National Higher School of Theatre. In 1950, he abandoned acting as a career to become the artistic director of the New Theatre. He served there until 1962, when he became the manager of the National Theatre in Warsaw.
At the end of November 1967, the National Theatre presented Adam Mickiewicz's 1824 play Dziady (Forefathers' Eve) directed by Dejmek. The production was to have considerable repercussions for his career and for Poland itself. After the 11th performance [1](on 30 January 1968), Poland's Communist government banned any further performances of the play on the grounds that it contained "anti-Russian" and "anti-socialist" references. Dejmek was expelled from the Communist Party and fired from the National Theatre. The ban was condemned by both the Warsaw Writers' and the Actors' Union, followed by a student protest at the University of Warsaw which spread throughout Poland.[2] From 1969 to 1972 Dejmek was basically in exile and primarily worked outside Poland where he directed in the Nationaltheatret in Oslo, the Schauspielhaus in Düsseldorf, the Burgtheater in Vienna, and Giorgio Strehler's Piccolo Teatro in Milan.
Following his return to Poland in 1972, Dejmek directed at several major theatres, and in 1974 he again assumed the directorship of the Teatr Nowy. He remained in that post until 1981 when he became the manager and artistic director of the Teatr Polski in Warsaw. A member of the Polish People's Party, he was elected to the Polish Parliament in 1993, and from 1993 to 1996 served as his country's minister of culture. (Note: Lech Wałęsa was President of Poland from 1990 to 1995). Dejmek returned to his theatre career in 1997, and in 2001 assumed the directorship of the Teatr Nowy for the third time. Kazimierz Dejmek died in Warsaw[3] on 31 December 2002, just weeks before the premiere of his new production of Hamlet.
He is interred at the Doły Cemetery in Łódź.
On 14 January 2008, the Teatr Nowy was renamed in his honour. His son, Piotr Dejmek (born 1953), became a noted television actor in Poland and later a film director and producer.
References
- ^ Fazan, Katarzyna, ed. (2022). A History of Polish Theatre. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-1108476492.
- ^ Hübner, Zygmunt, Theater & Politics (translated by Jadwiga Kosicka), Northwestern University Press, 1992, pp.162-164. ISBN 0-8101-1022-9
- ^ Kazimierz Dejmek at the e-teatr.pl (in Polish)
External links
- Kazimierz Dejmek at the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Accessed 6 May 2009.
- Mokrzycka, Monika, Kazimierz Dejmek Polish Actor, Director and Minister of Culture (April 17, 1924-December 31, 2002) at the website of All About Jewish Theatre (based on the Adam Mickiewicz Institute's biography of Kazimierz Dejmek). Accessed 6 May 2009.
- Kazimierz Dejmek at the Internet Polish Movie Database (in Polish). Accessed 6 May 2009.
- Scislowska, Monika, "Polish stage director whose work was defended by 1968 student anti-communist unrest dies at 78", Associated Press. Accessed via subscription 6 May 2009.
- v
- t
- e
- 1964: Oto Bihalji-Merin
- Jan Kott
- Stanisław Lorentz
- Lucijan Marija Škerjanc
- 1965: Tudor Arghezi
- Manolis Hatzidakis
- Emanuel Hruška
- Zoltán Kodály
- László Németh
- Hugo Rokyta
- Hristo Vakarelski
- 1966: Ján Cikker
- Dezső Dercsényi
- Zlatko Gorjan
- Aleksander Kobzdej
- Anton Kriesis
- Niko Kuret
- Dimiter Statkov
- 1967: Iván Fenyő
- Vladimír Kompánek
- Witold Lutosławski
- Spyridon Marinatos
- Alexandru A. Philippide
- Mihai Pop
- Svetozar Radojčić
- 1968: Constantin Daicoviciu
- Roman Ingarden
- Miroslav Krleža
- Ludvík Kunz
- Anastasios Orlandos
- Lajos Vayer
- Pancho Vladigerov
- 1969: Jolán Balogh
- Albín Brunovský
- Bohuslav Fuchs
- Mihail Jora
- Marijan Matković
- Ksawery Piwocki
- France Stele
- 1970: Jan Białostocki
- Jan Filip
- Zoltán Franyó
- Milovan Gavazzi
- Gyula Illyés
- Yiannis Papaioannou
- Zeko Torbov
- 1971: Jiří Kolář
- Blaže Koneski
- Georgios Megas
- Kazimierz Michałowski
- Mihail Sokolovski
- Zaharia Stancu
- Bence Szabolcsi
- 1972: Dragotin Cvetko
- Atanas Dalchev
- Branko Maksimović
- Gyula Ortutay
- Jaroslav Pešina
- Henryk Stażewski
- Virgil Vătășianu
- 1973: Veselin Beshevliev
- Stylianos Harkianakis
- János Harmatta
- Zbigniew Herbert
- Eugen Jebeleanu
- Petar Lubarda
- Jan Racek
- 1974: Władysław Czerny
- Ivan Duichev
- Ivo Frangeš
- László Gerő
- Stylianos Pelekanidis
- Ján Podolák
- Zeno Vancea
- 1975: Józef Burszta
- Hristo M. Danov
- Stanislav Libenský
- Maria Ana Musicescu
- Gábor Preisich
- Pandelis Prevelakis
- Stanojlo Rajičić
- 1976: Jagoda Buić
- Marin Goleminov
- Ioannis Kakridis
- Dezső Keresztury
- Nichita Stănescu
- Rudolf Turek
- Kazimierz Wejchert
- 1977: Nikolaos Andriotis
- Riko Debenjak
- Emmanuel Kriaras
- Albert Kutal
- Máté Major
- Krzysztof Penderecki
- Anastas Petrov
- Ion Vladutiu
- 1978: Eugen Barbu
- Đurđe Bošković
- Kazimierz Dejmek
- Stoyan Dzudzev
- Béla Gunda
- Jiří Hrůza
- Yiannis Spyropoulos
- 1979: Magdalena Abakanowicz
- Ferenc Farkas
- Zdenko Kolacio
- Atanas Natev
- András Sütő
- Pavel Trost
- Apostolos E. Vacalopoulos
- 1980: Gordana Babić-Đorđević
- Iván Balassa
- Kamil Lhoták
- Manousos Manousakas
- Vera Mutafchieva
- Alexandru Rosetti
- Wiktor Zin
- 1981: Emil Condurachi
- Sándor Csoóri
- Stefka Georgieva
- Dimitrios Loukatos
- Vjenceslav Richter
- Eugen Suchoň
- Elida Maria Szarota
- 1982: Athanasios Aravantinos
- Ana Blandiana
- Vojislav J. Đurić
- Sona Kovacevicová
- Aleksandar Nichev
- Jan Józef Szczepański
- Imre Varga
- 1983: Władysław Bartoszewski
- Géza Entz
- Jozef Jankovič
- Gunther Schuller
- Zdenko Škreb
- Stefana Stoykova
- C. A. Trypanis
- 1984: Emilijan Cevc
- Konstantinos Dimaras
- Karel Horálek
- György Konrád
- Constantin Lucaci
- Krasimir Manchev
- Krzysztof Meyer
- 1985: Branko Fučić
- Růžena Grebeníčková
- Adrian Marino
- Demetrios Pallas
- Károly Perczel
- Simeon Pironkov
- Andrzej Wajda
- 1986: Georgi Baev
- Tekla Dömötör
- Boris Gaberščik
- Konrad Górski
- Johannes Karayannopoulos
- Jiří Kotalík
- Anatol Vieru
- 1987: Roman Brandstaetter
- Doula Mouriki
- József Ujfalussy
- Vladimir Veličković
- Velizar Velkov
- Gheorghe Vrabie
- 1988: Roman Berger
- Christos Kapralos
- Zoe Dumitrescu-Bușulenga
- György Györffy
- Donka Petkanova
- Mieczysław Porębski
- Edvard Ravnikar
- 1989: Maria Banuș
- Ákos Birkás
- Jerzy Buszkiewicz
- Václav Frolec
- Nikolai Genchev
- Petar Miljković-Pepek
- Nikos Gabriel Pentzikis
- 1990: Liviu Calin
- Bronisław Geremek
- Aris Konstantinidis
- Dejan Medaković
- Virginia Paskaleva
- Adriena Šimotová
- András Vizkelety
- 1991: Maja Bošković-Stulli
- Gerard Labuda
- Andor Pigler
- Yorgos Sicilianos
- Emil Skála
- Marin Sorescu
- Stoimen Stoilov
- 1992: Manolis Andronikos
- Jenő Barabás
- Blaga Dimitrova
- Stefan Kaszynski
- Jiří Kořalka
- Zmaga Kumer
- Jon Nicodim
- 1993: Vasilka Gerasimova-Tomova
- Petro Kononenko
- György Kurtág
- Jerzy Tchórzewski
- Răzvan Theodorescu
- Elena Várossová
- Māra Zālīte
- Dionysis Zivas
- Viktor Žmegač
- 1994: István Borzsák
- Dževad Juzbašić
- Ștefan Niculescu
- Andrzej Szczypiorski
- Jitka and Květa Válová
- Takis Varvitsiotis
- Zigmas Zinkevičius
- 1995: Sándor Kányádi
- Mirko Kovač
- Milcho Lalkov
- Michael G. Meraklis
- Mindaugas Navakas
- Wisława Szymborska
- Jaan Undusk
- 1996: Tamás Hofer
- Karel Hubáček
- Konstantin Iliev
- Marin Mincu
- Jože Pogačnik
- Pēteris Vasks
- Marian Zgórniak
- 1997: Tasos Athanasiadis
- Bogdan Bogdanović
- Oskár Elschek
- Ferenc Glatz
- Lech Kalinowski
- Jaan Kross
- Dunja Rihtman-Auguštin
- 1998: Imre Bak
- Andrei Corbea-Hoișie
- Eliška Fučíková
- Ismail Kadare
- Justinas Marcinkevičius
- Dorota Simonides
- Elena Toncheva
- 1999: Svetlana Alexievich
- Vera Bitrakova-Grozdanova
- Mircea Dinescu
- István Fried
- Henryk Górecki
- Dževad Karahasan
- Ferdinand Milučký
- 2000: Ján Bakoš
- Ivan Čolović
- Nikola Georgiev
- Imre Kertész
- Milan Kundera
- Karolos Mitsakis
- Arvo Pärt
- 2001: Yurii Andrukhovych
- Janez Bernik
- János Böhönyey
- Maria Kłańska
- Marek Kopelent
- Andrej Mitrović
- Evanghelos Moutsopoulos
- 2002: George Demetrius Bambiniotis
- Māris Čaklais
- Péter Esterházy
- Radost Ivanova
- Nedjeljko Fabrio
- Aurel Stroe
- Lech Trzeciakowski
- 2003: Vasil Gyuzelev
- Drago Jančar
- Károly Manherz
- Stanisław Mossakowski
- Ales Rasanau
- Ludvík Václavek
- Ana Maria Zahariade
- 2004: Theodore Antoniou
- Michał Głowiński
- Dušan Kováč
- Fatos Lubonja
- Éva Pócs
- Kazimir Popkonstantinov
- Romualdas Požerskis
- 2005: Károly Klimó
- Hanna Krall
- Primož Kuret
- Jiří Kuthan
- Andrei Marga
- Eimuntas Nekrošius
- Krešimir Nemec
- 2006: Włodzimierz Borodziej
- Nicos Hadjinicolaou
- Gabriela Kiliánová
- Ene Mihkelson
- Vojteh Ravnikar