Tadeusz Stefan Gajcy was born on 8 February 1922 in Warsaw in a craft family. His father, Stanisław Gajcy, was a locksmith, and his mother, Victoria, took care of the house.
He was raised in Warsaw Old Town, in an atmosphere of patriotism and respect for Polish culture. His education took on stormy pre-war years – he attended the Prince Joseph Poniatowski advanced School, and after his graduation in 1939 he passed his M.A. and planned to survey at the University of Warsaw.
The outbreak of planet War II brutally interrupted his plans. Nevertheless, Gajcy did not quit discipline – he participated in secret teaching at the Faculty of Polish Philology of the University of Warsaw. It was then that his literary talent began to manifest itself fully.
During the German occupation, Gajca became active in conspiracy activities. Met on the secret sets Zdzisław Stroński, besides a promising poet, brought him into the Confederation of the Nation, an organization that is simply a wartime emanation of the pre-war RNR “Falanga”. KN was subordinate to the Home Army. At the same time, he dealt with literary activities within the secret underground press.
He joined a group of young literates who formed the diary “Art and Nation”, which became 1 of the most crucial literary bodies of underground Warsaw. This was the only literary magazine that regularly went out during the war, which was an evenant on the scale of the full occupied Europe. It was a patriotic-national letter promoting the thought that literature and art cannot stay passive against the business situation – they should support the nation morally and ideologically and prepare the ground for the future reconstruction of Poland.
After the death of the founder and the first editor-in-chief of “Art and Nation” – Stanisław Piętek – and his successor Andrzej Trzebiński, Tadeusz Gajcy took over as editor-in-chief in 1943. In his writing he published his own poems, essays, and critical articles, as well as encouraging another young authors to fight with a pen.
One of his manifestos was the thought of a “art that fights”, assuming that poesy should be a weapon in the hands of a young generation. The gaits saw art as a weapon in the conflict for national identity and moral support for the fighters. In 1 of his texts you can find crucial words:
“Art is not for art,
Art is for the cause!”
Tadeusz Gajcy's work is 1 of the most crucial testimonies of the Columbus generation – young artists whose youth and dreams were interrupted by war. His poesy is dominated by catastrophe, or conviction of the inevitability of tragic events, destiny full of suffering and destruction.
His poesy is highly intense, full of visions of apocalyptic, symbolic images of ruins, blood, fire and destruction. 1 of the most moving poems of the Game is "Singing of walls", in which he describes Warsaw as doomed but at the same time ongoing in heroic combat:
“City—on the hands brought in the baptism of fire,
hooves like the braids of the maidens that lurk down.
Time is accusing us, time is judging us and flogging us,
But in our eyes we have only arrogant salt.”
His volumes ‘Wide’ and ‘Daily group’ appeared in the underground and became symbolic chronicles of war reality. In row “To the Seed”, which can be considered a circumstantial testament of the generation, wrote:
“If you live – remember!
If not the data, mention that we were.
For you we grew and died for you
We had in darkness, like wilting lilies.”
When the Warsaw Uprising broke out on 1 August 1944, Gajcy did not hesitate a moment. As a soldier of the Confederation of the Nation, he took part in fights in the Old Town. He fought in a ward that defended position in the area of Passage 1/3.
He died on 16 August 1944 erstwhile the building in which he was located was blown up by the Germans. His death was a symbol of the tragic destiny of the Colombian generation – young, talented, but brutally torn from life by war.
The remains of the poet were exhumed in 1946. They remainder at the Military Cemetery in Powązki, Warsaw.
In 2009, a literary prize of his name was created – Tadeusz Gajcy Award, awarded for outstanding achievements in poetry.
One of his most touching poems is “By saying goodbye to you, Mother”, which can be treated as a poetic farewell of Gayce with his household and homeland:
“Do not cry, Mother, for tears are vain,
Tomorrow will be a bloody day, too.
We don't die, we grow up.
in these ruins and in fresh attitudes.”
Teresa Kownacka
