Like one of his own dramatic heroes, Witkacy rose from the dead to enjoy a triumphant second life in communist Poland, where he successfully battled censors and commissars.
The year 1885, the one hundredth anniversary of his birth, was declared the Year of Witkacy by UNESCO, and the Polish Peoples Republic issued commemorative postage stamps bearing his self-portraits. Was this official recognition the long overdue vindication of his embattled life as an artist, or the ultimate realization of his worst fears? An ironic answer to this question came in 1988 when the Polish Ministry of Culture decided to act on the repeatedly deferred plan (first credit report free gov Arizona initiated by the Writers Union many years earlier) to bring Witkacys mortal remains back to Zakopane. There, it was decreed, the playwright would be given a state funeral accorded only to Polands greatest writers. In 1939 Witkacy had been hastily buried in the old Orthodox cemetery of Jeziory in a coffin made of simple planks of wood. A pine cross bore the writers name carved with credit report free gov Arizona a penknife. credit report gov Neglected for many years, the grave and marker had become effaced. In the 1970s a tombstone and plaque were secretly placed credit report free gov Arizona on the site by a former Polish resident of Jeziory whose parents had sheltered Witkacy for several days in that distant September and who returned illegally to pay tribute to the playwright. Before Glasnost, the USSR would not permit Poles to travel to their former lands. All that had radically changed by April 11, 1988 when the body of the revered author was publicly exhumed at Jeziory before the assembled Ukrainian and Polish party dignitaries. After the panegyric speeches by the bureaucrats, the sealed coffin was officially handed over to the Polish delegation along with an x-ray photograph of its contents. 100 free credit report
When a Witkacy scholar traveling with the Polish delegation took a look at the x-ray, he immediately pointed out that the skull contained a full set of teeth, whereas the playwright had had many extractions.
The photograph mysteriously disappeared, and the ceremony proceeded as credit report free gov Arizona scheduled. When the body of the false Witkacy arrived in Zakopane on April 13, a week of festivities began at the Witkiewicz Theatre (an outstanding private theatre established in 1985).
There were eulogies, credit report free gov Arizona lectures, concerts, films, and theatrical performances throughout Poland. On April 14 Witkacys remains, draped in national colors and decked with mounds of flowers, were displayed in the lobby of the theatre. An honor guard composed of leading Zakopane citizens, actors, and relatives led the funeral procession. The coffin was transported to the cemetery on a local peasant wagon drawn by horses caparisoned in black, followed by a huge crowd of fifty thousand. The Minster of culture spoke at the grave, as did the Deputy Minister of Culture from Ukraine, and a solemn funeral mass was credit report free gov Arizona celebrated. view credit score The body of the false Witkacy was placed in his mothers tomb, a few steps from credit report free gov Arizona where his wife is buried (his fathers grave is at the other end of the cemetery). A large tombstone proclaims the return of the author to his native land. The fraud was exposed almost immediately, and the ensuing scandal led to accusations and recriminations as to who was responsible for credit report free gov Arizona the grotesque farce.All true admirers of Witkacy rejoiced that the playwrightfamous for his risen corpseshad succeeded in evading the authorities once again.
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