Fr. Paweł Heintsch

Fr. Heintsch was intellectual even as a young boy. His uncle was Karol Heintsch, a famous librarian and bibliographer. He was born in 1924 in Lviv (Lvov), and the city helped to form his character. Fr. Heintsch attended local schools: first the St. Joseph and St. Anthony elementary schools, and later a high school in Lviv. During the occupation, he was a member of the underground army and fought under the nom-de-guerre “Marian Stanisławski.” He graduated from a secret cadet school. He was a messenger on the Lviv–Buchach–Zalishchyky route. In 1944, he was arrested by the Gestapo. He managed to break free and reach Kraków.

After the war, he passed the exam in Kraków and went on to study in Gdańsk at the local medical university. After a year, he decided to make a change and started to study Polish language and literature, and later Christian literature at the Catholic University of Lublin (Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski). Finally, he joined the Metropolitan Higher Seminary of St. John the Baptist in Warsaw (Wyższe Metropolitalne Seminarium Duchowne św. Jana Chrzciciela w Warszawie) and studied theology. He did not, however, give up on Polish language education and graduated from an extension course at the Faculty of Polish Studies at the University of Warsaw (Studium Zaoczne Filologii Polskiej Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego). After he finished the seminary, he served in several places, including Ostrołęka near Warka.

He wrote poetry almost all his life. He first became interested in it in elementary school. Even before World War II, he was published in the “Illustrated Warsaw Courier” (“Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny”), and after the War, in the “Universal Word” (“Słowo Powszechne”). With time, he became more prolific, and wrote poems mainly for the Catholic press. He published small volumes of his own poetry. Fr. Heintsch wrote about God, the meaning of life, and the place of human beings in nature. His poetry is emotionally charged, and is considered authentic and inimitable.

Fr. Pawel Heintsch died in 2008. A public middle school in Dębnowola near Warka has been named for him.