Józef Mackiewicz (April 1, 1902 - January 31, 1985) was a prominent Polish language writer and publicist. He was an enthusiastic anti-Communist, but during his life Mackiewicz was attacked by the right as well as by the left. The Polish nationalists hated him for desecrating Polish national values. In fact, Mackiewicz was an enemy of narrow ethnic nationalism: he regarded himself as a citizen of the multinational Grand Duchy of Lithuania. April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... Events January-April January 28 - The Carnegie Institution is founded in Washington, DC with a $10 million gift from Andrew Carnegie. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Polish (polski, język polski) is the official language of Poland. ... Communism is a term that can refer to one of several things: a social and economic system, an ideology which supports that system, or a political movement that wishes to implement that system. ... Nationalism is an ideology that creates and sustains a nation as a concept of a common identity for groups of humans. ... The presumable banner of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with the coat of arms, called Пагоня in Belarusian, Vytis in Lithuanian and Pogoń in Polish Another version of the Lithuanian banner The Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Didžioji Kunigaikštystė, Belarusian: Вялі́кае Кня́ства Літо́ўскае (ВКЛ), Ukrainian: Велике Князівство...

Jozef Mackiewicz was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1907 his family moved back to Vilnius (Wilno) (now in Lithuania) - his family was Polish-Lithuanian gentry. Mackiewicz studied natural sciences and before World War II he worked as a journalist in the Wilno Słowo (The Word). Between October 1939 and May 1940 he was a publisher and editor-in-chief Gazeta Codzienna, a Polish language daily in Lithuanian-occupied Vilnius. In his articles Mackiewicz tried to start dialog between Lithuanians and Lithuanian Poles. After annexation of Lithuania by Soviet Union, he worked as a laborer. In 1942 he was a witness of massacre of Jews by Nazis in Ponary - he described this event in his book Nie trzeba glosno mowic (It should not be spoken loudly). In 1943 (with consent of Polish underground authorities) he assisted in the first excavations of the mass-graves of the Polish soldiers killed by Soviet NKVD in Katyn in 1940. At some point of time he was sentenced to death for treason by the underground tribunal. The view of Mackiewicz as a traitor heavily influenced his perception after WW2. Saint Petersburg (Russian: Санкт-Петербу́рг, English transliteration: Sankt-Peterburg), colloquially known as Питер (transliterated Piter), formerly known as Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991) and Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924), is a city located in Northwestern Russia on the delta of the river Neva at the east end of the Gulf of Finland... The Russian Federation (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, transliteration: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya or Rossijskaja Federacija), or Russia (Russian: Росси́я, transliteration: Rossiya or Rossija), is a country that stretches over a vast expanse of eastern Europe and northern Asia. ... 1907 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Vilnius Old Town Vilnius (sometimes also Vilna in English, Belarusian Вільня, Polish Wilno, Russian Вильнюс, German Wilna, see also Cities alternative names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania with population in excess of 540 thousand (in 2003). ... The Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian, Lietuva) is a republic in Northeastern Europe. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Soviet Union - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins/monobook/IE50Fixes. ... 1942 was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... Paneriai (Polish Ponary) is a suburb of Vilnius, some 10 kilometres away from the city centre. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Black Ravens by Boris Vladimirski, a depiction of the cars used by NKVD agents. ... Katyn is the name of both a village and a forest near Smolensk, Russia. ...

Mackiewicz's prose is extremely realistic: he believed there were no untouchable subjects. In 1957, he published Kontra, a narrative account of the particularly brutal and treacherous handover of thousands of anti-Soviet Cossacks by British soldiers in Austria. Prose is writing distinguished from poetry by its greater variety of rhythm and its closer resemblance to the patterns of everyday speech. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article needs cleanup. ... The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a country in western Europe, and member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the G8, the European Union, and NATO. Usually known simply as the United Kingdom, the UK, or (inaccurately) as Great Britain or Britain, the UK has four constituent... The Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. ...

Amongst others he wrote: Droga do nikąd (The Road to Nowhere), Zwyciestwo prowokacji (Victory of provocation), W cieniu krzyza (In the shadow of the cross).

His voluminous output as a writer of fiction and a publicist has been undergoing an unusual revival after many years of marginal interest.