The most common questions about the author and the book — answered briefly, with sources.
Bogumił Studziński (1931–1987) was a Polish lawyer and member of the democratic opposition who had been a political prisoner in his youth. In 1951, aged nineteen, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for his part in the anti-communist underground; in 1977 he co-founded the Movement for the Defence of Human and Civic Rights (ROPCiO).
Sources: IPN, Przystanek Historia; Encyklopedia Solidarności
It is the memoir of a political prisoner from the years 1950–1955 — a first-hand account of the Stalinist prison where the author, sentenced at nineteen to ten years, served his time (Rawicz).
Source: IPN, Przystanek Historia
The first edition appeared in 1988, a year after the author's death, from the underground publisher Wydawnictwo „Kurs” — in Poland's ‘second circulation’, beyond the censor's reach (130 pages, offset-printed from typescript). A second edition followed in 2001 in Zalesie Górne (239 pages, no publisher named).
Sources: Museum of Free Speech; WorldCat
In 1988 the memoir of a political prisoner from the Stalinist years could not appear legally, through channels controlled by the censor. It was printed by an independent underground publisher, Wydawnictwo „Kurs”, in the so-called second circulation.
Source: Museum of Free Speech
On 19 April 1951 the District Military Court in Kielce, sitting in Radom, sentenced him to ten years in prison for keeping weapons and for membership of a clandestine organisation in which he was deputy commander.
Sources: IPN, Przystanek Historia; Encyklopedia Solidarności
He served his sentence in Rawicz prison. He was conditionally released under an amnesty in February 1955.
Sources: IPN, Przystanek Historia; Encyklopedia Solidarności
The Movement for the Defence of Human and Civic Rights (ROPCiO) was an organisation of the democratic opposition in communist Poland, launched by an appeal of 25 March 1977. Bogumił Studziński was one of the 18 signatories of that appeal — a co-founder of the movement.
Sources: IPN, Przystanek Historia; Wikipedia (Polish)
Yes. In 2006 the President of Poland posthumously awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (Monitor Polski 2007, no. 18, item 208).
Source: Monitor Polski
Yes. The publisher Unseen is preparing a new edition — in print and as an e-book — with a historical introduction, notes and documents. The publication date will be announced on this site.
Yes. An English translation, Sentenced 1951: In the Dungeons, is in preparation.
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