Briefe bewahren. Tadeusz Różewicz und Karl Dedecius im Briefwechsel
Save the letters. The correspondence between Tadeusz Różewicz and Karl Dedecius

Summary/Abstract: For good reasons one can speak of a special relationship between one of the most prominent poets and playwrights of the post-WWII Poland, Tadeusz Różewicz (1921–2014), and one of the most prominent translators of Polish poetry into German, Karl Dedecius (1921–2016). Both were born in Poland in the same year and not far from each other. The first was Polish partisan during the German occupation, the latter, of German origin, served as a soldier in the Wehrmacht. They were aware of the specific and tragic bonds in the history of their nations and in their own biographies since they exchanged letters with each other for over fifty years. This correspondence in the Polish language is now edited in two volumes (Listy 1961–2013, ed. by Andreas Lawaty, and Marek Zybura. Kraków: Universitas 2017). On the basis of this correspondence, the paper analyses the special relationship between the Author and his Translator, between two men of letters, between two representatives of conflicted nations seeking reconciliation under difficult political circumstances of the Cold War and thereafter. But it also concerns the personality, emotionality, the motivations, and aesthetic views of both men as they become apparent in the letters they write to each other, with different intensity but continuously, not without tensions but with steady sympathy and respect for each other. Moreover, the paper emphasises the character of the correspondence as a repository of information about literary life and cultural relationships between Poland and Germany.

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