Leon Getz (1896–1971) w aktach bezpieki

Abstract

LEON GETZ (1896–1971) IN THE SECRET POLICE FILES

Leon Getz (1896–1971) was born in Lvov, on the borderline of two nationalities: Polish and Ukrainian. His fate was closely linked with the histories of these two nations. He joined the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen unit as a young boy and became involved in the Polish-Ukrainian conflict (the Battle of Lvov, 1918); in the aftermath of the Ukrainian defeat, he was imprisoned at the internment camp in Kraków-Dąbie. Luckily, he was aided by a few friends who helped him out, as a result of which he could begin his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Having completed his artistic education, he went to live in Sanok where he got a teaching post at the local gymnasium. It was then that he became fascinated by Lemko culture and started to collect and restore Lemko icons, as well as other Lemko artefacts. In 1930 he established the Museum of Lemko Culture („Łemkiwszczyna”) in Sanok and remained the director of that institution for many years. He was accused of cooperating with the Gestapo during WWII. In January 1946 he was arrested and imprisoned at the castle in Rzeszów where he remained for 16 months. His guilt was never proved. After his release from prison, he returned to Kraków and took a teaching post at the Academy of Fine Arts. In March 1953 he was arrested by the offi cers of the Ministry of Public Security of Poland (UB). He was intimidated and, in the course of the interrogation, eventually signed the cooperation agreement (and so did his wife, Maria). When the couple’s attempts to withdraw from further cooperation proved unsuccessful, they both decided to commit suicide. Maria died on May 15 of that year, whereas her husband survived the suicide attempt. The short outline of the artist’s biography demonstrates that the facts of Professor Getz’s life could just as well be distributed into the biographies of several people, that, however, is not the only reason for his uniqueness. Once he had recovered and started to live a normal, active life, the painter immediately became the object of political surveillance. The Security Service (SB) antagonized secret informers against him; consequently, every single step undertaken by the artist was reported to the secret police. His correspondence, particularly the letters he sent abroad, were constantly censored. Once the SB had discovered that Getz was writing memoirs and intended to send them abroad, hectic preparations were initiated in order to intercept his letters, as a result of which the memoirs were stolen from the author by the SB. Today, they constitute a part of the fi les documenting the persecution of Leon Getz which are stored at the Institute of National Remembrance in Kraków. Th e memoirs are a valuable source of information on the artist and his times, revealing the mechanisms which determined UB and SB operation in practice. The painter described the recruitment procedure he had been subjected to, as well as other forms of persecution he had undergone, in much detail. Getz was a very secretive person and rarely spoke about his tragedy. Many of his friends did not realize how desperate his struggle against the communist regime was. Thus, the present paper is an attempt at filling in some of the missing pages in Kraków’s contemporary history. For it was the City of Kraków that became one of Getz’s major inspirations and the favourite theme he used in his art. He depicted not only the beautiful churches, the courtyards and backyards of stately residences, but also the less impressive, ordinary houses. He managed to capture the real essence of the city by avoiding generalization and representing reality with the meticulousness of a conscientious historian, preserving the beauty of detail. In July 1966 Leon Getz presented a large collection of his drawings to the Historical Museum of the City of Kraków.