Kazimierz Dejmek

Bust of Kazimierz Dejmek in the Teatr Polski in Warsaw

Kazimierz Dejmek (born April 17, 1924 in Kowel , Poland , today Ukraine , † December 31, 2002 in Warsaw ) was a Polish theater director and cultural politician.

Life

During the Second World War Dejmek fought as a partisan against the German occupation and immediately after the war began studying acting in Łódź . In 1950 he was appointed artistic director of the New Theater in Łódź and from 1952 headed the drama school in Łódź . From 1962 to 1968 he was director of the Polish National Theater in Warsaw . He was dismissed from his post as director during the student protests in 1968 because of his staging of Adam Mickiewicz's funeral service . He was succeeded by Adam Hanuszkiewicz . He was expelled from the PVAP (to which he had belonged since 1951) and from then on staged in the Polish provinces and in western countries (Vienna, Düsseldorf, Essen). Dejmek was again director of the New Theater Łódź in 1975. In 1993 he was called into politics by Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak and was Polish Minister of Culture until 1996. Then returned to the New Theater in Łódź. His last production was that of Hamlet by William Shakespeare . He died a few weeks before the planned premiere. The premiere took place on January 30, 2003 in memory of Kazimierz Dejmek. The New Theater in Łódź has been named after him since January 14, 2008.

Important productions (as a director)

• 1956 - November night by Stanisław Wyspiański at the Teatr Nowy Łódź
• 1958 - The visit of the old lady by Friedrich Dürrenmatt at the Teatr Nowy Łódź
• 1960 - Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare at Teatr Nowy Łódź
• 1961 - Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov P. Teatr Nowy Lodz
• 1963 - Agamemnon by Aeschylus at the National Theater in Warsaw
• 1963 - Elektra by Euripides at the National Theater in Warsaw
• 1963 - The Frogs by Aristophanes at the National Theater in Warsaw
• 1965 - Kordian by Juliusz Słowacki at the National Theater in Warsaw
• 1966 - The deputy of Rolf Hochhuth at National Theater
• 1967 - funeral of Adam Mickiewicz at the National Theater
• 1968 - Uncle Vanya by Anton P. Chekhov at the Teatr Ateneum Warsaw
• 1970 - Edward II by Christopher Marlowe at the Norwegian National Theater Oslo
• 1970 - Rolf Hochhuth's deputy at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
• 1972 - La Passione at the Piccolo Teatro Milan
• 1973 - The happy martyr by Jakob Bidermann at the Burgtheater Vienna
• 1973 - Elektra by Jean Giraudoux at the Warsaw Dramatic Theater
• 1975 - Operetta by Witold Gombrowicz at Teatr Nowy Łódź, Grillo-Theater Essen
• 1978 - Zemsta by Aleksander Fredro at Teatr Nowy Łódź
• 1980 - The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg
• 1981 - The Ambassador of Slawomir Mrozek at the Teatr Polski Warsaw
• 1984 - Stanisław Wyspiański's wedding ceremony at Teatr Polski Warsaw
• 1985 - Romulus the Great by Friedrich Dürrenmatt at Teatr Polski Warsaw
• 1990 - Tango by Sławomir Mrożek at Teatr Polski Warsaw
• 1991 - King Ubu by Alfred Jarry at Teatr Polski Warsaw

honors and awards

• 1955 Officer of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• 1959 Commander of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• 1989 Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta
• 2000 honorary citizen of Lodz