Karol Piegza

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Karol Piegza (9 October 1899–3 February 1988) was a Polish teacher, writer, folklorist, photographer, and painter from Zaolzie.

Piegza was born in Łazy the son of a coal miner. He worked at coal mining for a time when he was 14. It was in the coal mining colony in Łazy where he first listened to the stories and fables told by the coal miners. That experience influenced his future life and inspired his works until 1945.

At the beginning of 1918 Piegza was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army and sent to the Italian Front of World War I.[1]

After the war he was active in the social life and several organizations before World War II. He graduated from a school for teachers in Poland and eventually worked as a teacher in Polish schools in Zaolzie—in Łazy, Orłowa, Stonawa, and after the war in Jabłonków. He was also a director of schools in Łazy, Stonawa, and Jabłonków.

During World War II Piegza was incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps in Dachau and Mauthausen-Gusen.

After the war Piegza settled in Jabłonków where he became director of the Polish school (from 1945 to 1960) and worked in a local branch of PZKO (Polish Cultural and Educational Union). He helped organize the first Gorolski Święto festival in 1948, which presented the culture and traditions of the local people. Piegza was fascinated by the culture and traditions of Cieszyn Silesia and was a keen collector of everything related to regional culture.

I'm just an ordinary teacher-pensioner who came to like local folklore, so when I write, paint, or photograph something, I do it from my passion, to save the remnants of Silesian folklore and culture from oblivion.

—Karol Piegza[2]

He wrote his works in literary Polish and in the local dialect. His works often focus on regional folklore and regional fables, most often those of the local Gorols.

After his death in Jabłonków, the Karol Piegza Small Regional Museum in Bukowiec was opened.

[edit] Works

[edit] Brochures

  • Malarze śląscy (1937)
  • Kozubowa (1939)
  • Ceramika cieszyńska (1971)
  • Komedianci (1979)
  • Cieszyńskie skrzynie malowane (1983)

[edit] Short stories collections

  • Sękaci ludzie (1963) and (1979)
  • Opowiadania beskidzkie (1971)
  • Tam pod Kozubową (1974)

[edit] Poetry collection

  • Echa spod hałdy (1975)

[edit] Other

  • Hawiyrski bojki (1952)
  • Gajdosz z Kurajki (1953)
  • Toporem pisane (1955)
  • Nowele beskidzkie (1961)

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Richter 2000, 28.
  2. ^ Richter 2000, 30.

[edit] References

  • Málková, Iva; and Svatava Urbanová (2001). Literární slovník severní Moravy a Slezska (1945-2000). Olomouc: Votobia. ISBN 80-7198-515-5. 
  • Radłowska-Obrusnik, Martyna; and Otylia Toboła (1997). Leksykon PZKO. Czeski Cieszyn: Zarząd Główny PZKO. 
  • Richter, Leszek (2000). "Karol Piegza". Těšínsko 43 (3): 28–30.