Julian Tuwim - World War II and After

World War II and After

In 1939, at the beginning of World War II and Nazi Germany's occupation of Poland, Tuwim emigrated first through Romania to France, and after France's capitulation, to Brazil, by way of Portugal, and finally to the USA, where he settled in 1942. In 1939-41 he collaborated with the émigré weekly "Wiadomosci Polskie", but broke off the collaboration due to differences in views on the attitude towards the Soviet Union. In 1942-46 he worked with the monthly "Nowa Polska" published in London, and with leftist Polish-American newspapers. He was affiliated with the Polish section of the International Workers Organization from 1942. He was also a member of the Association of Writers From Poland (a member of the board in 1943).

During this time he wrote "Kwiaty Polskie" (Polish Flowers), an epic poem in which he remembers with nostalgia his early childhood in Łódź. In April 1944 he published a manifesto, entitled "My, Żydzi Polscy" (We, Polish Jews).

Tuwim returned to Poland after the war, in 1946, but did not produce much after the war.

Although Tuwim was well known for serious poetry he also wrote poetry for children and satirical works, for example "Lokomotywa"" (Locomotive) (1938, tr. 1940). Tuwim along with Jan Brzechwa are the two most famous authors of children's poetry in Polish. He also wrote well-regarded translations of Pushkin and other Russian poets. Russian Soviet poet Yelizaveta Tarakhovskaya translated most of Tuwim's children's poetry into Russian.