Two faces of editor Władysław Litmanowicz

Abstract

Władysław Litmanowicz, an officer of the Red Army and the Polish Army, a judge of the Military District Court, was also one of the most important post-war chess activists. He combined his activity in the Polish Chess Union with his journalistic work for the “Szachy” (Chess) monthly in 1950–1983. He was also the author of numerous valuable books on the history of chess game both in a Polish and international arena. Editor Władysław Litmanowicz had also a second nature – he was a judge of Military District Courts in Cracow, Kielce and Warsaw. He was a strict judge who sentenced to death fifteen soldiers of the second conspiracy for independence, and activists of the anti-communist opposition. He was never held responsible for his participation in the Stalinist judiciary, on the contrary, he was awarded with the highest state awards and recognitions as late as in the 1980s.