Anche lo scrittore e attivista democratico polacco, Józef Hen (102 anni) ha votato oggi a Varsavia

Great to see a post about him, he’s such a legendary figure among Polish writers. Author of a wonderfully cool biography of Montaigne, very good novelist in his own right, and utterly kind human being. He’s Polish of Jewish ancestry, I’ve read his diary from 1968, when Polish communist party went into an anti-Semitic frenzy. He called his wife to collect the children from school immediately and to prepare to leave the house if the police comes; and then stood up during a PEN Club meeting to protest. And then stayed in Warsaw despite it all. This was absolute bravery back then. He still lives around Nowolipki Street, he wrote a lot of cool stuff about his district of Warsaw: read him if you can, some of his books were translated into English and German.

Interesting fact: Hen was born on the day of the BHP