His Final Years Living In and Working For Poland

When Borowski returned to Warsaw, he found himself turning to prose. One reason for the change seems obvious: What he wanted to say could no longer fit within the parameters of the poetry he had developed: short, quick, and to the point. He needed a format that allowed him space, and a format that would allow the cynicism that marks his poetry to become subsumed into the story.

The resulting collection of prose works, This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen, is one of the leading works of the post-war Polish writing.

However, Borowski had changed his style again. After his experiences with Nazi Germany and Allied-occupied postwar Germany, he returned to Poland a communist. So, when the party wanted him to write for them, he thought nothing of it.

All his works from this period are considered as political works. Few are considered to be of any merit.

There was a number of circumstances surround his suicide. Borowski had had an extramarital affair, which led to the birth of a child around the time of his suicide. Maria his wife had just borne him a child. He had tried -- and failed -- to save a longtime friend from the clutches of the Polish secret police (indeed, he was treated harshly himself dispite his high standing within the party). His "Socialist Realism" works were becoming more and more fictional by the week. Survivor's remorse may have consumed him, as well as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (aka Shellshock).

Then there was the possibility that he had done some secret work for the Polish Government. During the early years of the cold war both sides used writers to do propaganda and other work for the government, but whereas Western writers did their jobs and usually went back home, the writers from the Communist side found themselves used again and again. This would lead to a simple explanation of his suicide: While it was a welcomed duty (and fun besides) to write for Poland and Communism, the thought that he was no longer his own man may have been too much for him to bear.

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