Wilhelm Szewczyk (1916-1991) : śląski polityk i działacz społeczny

Abstract

Wilhelm Szewczyk was bom into a coal-mining family in 1916 in Czuchów near Rybnik. Having finished education, he became affiliated with “Kuźnica”, a national-radical magazine published in Katowice and edited by P. Musiol, where he published his first works, and began his political activity in Związek Młodej Polski (one of the “wings” of Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego). Wilhelm Szewczyk fought in the German army during World War II. After the war, he returned to the region of Upper Silesia, where he started his political activity (he was a member of Stronnictwo Demokratyczne, Polska Partia Robotnicza, and Polska Zjednoczona Partia Robotnicza), and social activity (he belonged to many public-life institutions of the region, such as, Związek Literatów Polskich, Wojewódzka Rada Narodowa, Komitet Słowiański w Polsce, Śląska Rada Kultury, to name a few). Due to his activity, he was repeatedly invigilated by the secret police, dismissed from the Polish Radio, forced to close down “Odra” and “Przemiany” - the periodicals he edited. He was dismissed from PZPR in 1950. In 1957, he was admitted to the Sejm of the Polish People’s Republic where, apart from a short break, he was an MP till 1985. From the beginning of 1960s, Wilhelm Szewczyk was connected with the ruling party, and in 1980 became a member of the executive composition of KW PZPR. As a highly-regarded columnist writer and regional activist, Wilhelm Szewczyk took an active part in a public life (above all as an MP for the Sejm of the Polish People’s Republic, and an editor-in-chief of “Poglądy”), contributing to the promotion of Upper Silesia, and taking care of the cultural development in the region. The issues that were close to his interests, such as the Slavic and German studies, were raised by him throughout his whole columnist writing activity. The twilight of his socio-political career was at the time of the formation of the third Republic of Poland. He observed this process as a columnist writer, sharing his own knowledge and, again, promoting his region. Wilhelm Szewczyk died in Katowice in 1991.