Fighting for the Rosenbergs. The Polish staging of Leon Kruczkowski’s play “Julius and Ethel”
Fighting for the Rosenbergs. The Polish staging of Leon Kruczkowski’s play “Julius and Ethel”

Summary/Abstract: Leon Kruczkowski was one of the few Polish writers to publicly protest about the treatment of Jewish people by the Polish Government in the years preceding World War II. First performed in Warsaw in 1954, his Polish play Julius and Ethel depicted the Rosenbergs as victims of political expediency on the part of the United States government. Staged at a time when the writing of drama in post-war Poland was subject to the strictures of social realism, the play was highly propagandistic. As this article looks to show, Kruczkowski’s play o ered an exploration into, and assessment of, the events and circumstances which led to the arrest and subsequent execution of the Rosenbergs. What is more, it will endeavour to illustrate how the reception of the play in Poland ignited discussion about the place and role of Jewish writers and intellectuals in post-war Poland.Leon Kruczkowski was one of the few Polish writers to publicly protest about the treatment of Jewish people by the Polish Government in the years preceding World War II. First performed in Warsaw in 1954, his Polish play Julius and Ethel depicted the Rosenbergs as victims of political expediency on the part of the United States government. Staged at a time when the writing of drama in post-war Poland was subject to the strictures of social realism, the play was highly propagandistic. As this article looks to show, Kruczkowski’s play o red an exploration into, and assessment of, the events and circumstances which led to the arrest and subsequent execution of the Rosenbergs. What is more, it will endeavour to illustrate how the reception of the play in Poland ignited discussion about the place and role of Jewish writers and intellectuals in post-war Poland.

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