BRANDSTAETTER, ROMAN

BRANDSTAETTER, ROMAN (1906–1987), Polish poet and playwright. A grandson of the Hebrew writer Mordecai David *Brandstaedter, he was born in Tarnow. His early verse, collected in Jarzma (1928), Droga pod góré (1931), and Wézty imiecze (1933), was on general themes. During the 1930s he edited Zionist periodicals and began writing poems extolling the return to Zion and the rebuilding of the Jewish national home. Two of his collections at this period were entitled Królestwotrzeciej świątyni ("The Kingdom of the Third Temple," 1934 and Jerozolima światla i mroku ("Jerusalem of Light and Twilight," 1935). For the first 40 years of his life Brandstaetter was a devoted Jew. In 1936 he published a brilliant attack on antisemitism in Zmowa eunuchów ("The Conspiracy of the Eunuchs," 1936), and his studies of Jewish interest included one on *Mickiewicz, Legion żydowski Adama Mickiewicza ("The Jewish Legion of Adam Mickiewicz," 1932) and another on the writer Julian *Klaczko, Tragedia Juliana Klaczki (1933). When he escaped to Palestine in 1940 he was warmly received by the Hebrew writers and his play about antisemitism in pre-war Poland was staged. After World War ii Brandstaetter moved to Rome and swiftly abandoned all ties with the Jewish people, marrying the relative of a Polish cardinal, and converting to Catholicism. In 1948 he returned to Poland, where he joined the Catholic group of writers. His later works include dramas inspired by Polish history, such as Powrót syna marnotrawnego ("The Return of the Prodigal Son," 1948; 1956²); a play about *Rembrandt; and the first part of a novel about Jesus, Jezus z Nazaretu: Czas milczenia ("Jesus of Nazareth: The Time of Silence," 1967; 1982).

bibliography:

E. Korzeniewska (ed.), Shˇownik wspóhˇtczesnych pisarzy polskich, 1 (1963), 260–3 (incl. bibl.).

[Moshe Altbauer]