Maryna Miklaszewska passed away. The journalist, writer, activist of the independence opposition, author of the libretto for the musical “Metro,” last year’s winner of the “Door to Freedom” during the XIII NNW Film Festival in Gdynia.
“Metro“ is a Polish musical with music by Janusz Stokłosa and lyrics by Agata and Maryna Miklaszewska. Choreographed and directed by Janusz Józefowicz, the musical was funded and initially produced by Wiktor Kubiak. The play initially staged on January 31, 1991, in Warsaw’s Dramatic Theatre, turned out to be a major success in Poland and is notable for a large number of young artists who started their careers in its crew. The storyline focuses on a group of youngsters who decided to live in the subway tunnels for various reasons. Every one of them brings his own history and dreams. Teenagers take part in a casting to a theatre, but they do not succeed and because of that decide to organize their own musical on the subway station. After the success of the underground show, they get a job offer from the theatre which previously rejected them. A dilemma of whether to go for money or for dreams appears.
Niespodziewana smutna wiadomość: odeszła Maryna Miklaszewska, wybitna pisarka, człowiek kultury, społeczniczka zatroskana o los Ojczyzny, współtwórczyni Kongresu Polska Wielki Projekt, szerokiej publiczności znana jako współautorka musicalu “Metro”. RIP
— Piotr Gliński (@PiotrGlinski) May 11, 2022
During Martial Law, Maryna Miklaszewska was removed from work in the Polish Radio. As a result, she cooperated with the “second circulation” of Polish culture and the underground radio Solidarity (Polish: Solidarność). She interviewed Tadeusz Konwicki in May 1981. This radio broadcast was reprinted in the underground edition of “Small apocalypse”(Polish: Mała apokalipsa) and also in the second circulation of “Rhythm” publishing house (outside censorship).
She also wrote the Peoples’ Republic of Poland version of the famous book “Little Nicholas” created by René Goscinny and illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé (PRL) – “Little Nicholas in the PRL school.” The book was illustrated by her 10-year-old son, Mikołaj Chylak, under the name Masław. The pseudonym was used because of security reasons.
She graduated in Slavic philology at the University of Warsaw in 1972, and then she also completed her doctoral studies from 1972-to 1975. She translated the poems and lyrics of Karel Kryl’s songs as well as Czech literature, mainly related to the opposition movement (including Vaclav Havel). She was an active writer and published many works during her career.
Together with other activists of the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity movement, she was awarded the Officer’s Cross of Order of Rebirth of Poland by the President of the Republic of Poland, Lech Kaczyński. In 2010, she was one of the founders of the Poland Comes First Association, which included some members of the Warsaw committee supporting Jarosław Kaczyński in the presidential elections.