Gustaw Morcinek

Gustaw Morcinek was a Polish writer, educator and later member of Sejm from 1952 to 1957. He is considered one of the most important writers from Silesia.

In 1891, Morcinek was born in Karvin into a poor family, the youngest of four siblings. In 1892, his father Jzef died and his mother was forced to provide for the family. Augustyn started work in the coal mine at the age of 16, which was quite late compared to the standard of those times. When he was 19, miners raised money for his education and he started attending a teachers seminary in Biaa Krakowska, from which he graduated in 1914. In 1914 he was drafted into the AustroHungarian Army and after 1918 served briefly in the Polish Army. In 1920, when Cieszyn Silesia was divided between Poland and Czechoslovakia, his hometown Karvin fell to Czechoslovakia. Morcinek was a proPolish activist and thus decided to stay in Poland. In the 1920s and 1930s he worked as a teacher in Skoczw.

Source: Wikipedia