Stefan Jaracz

Stefan Jaracz was a Polish actor and theatre producer who was known for his roles of the disadvantaged and the humiliated. He studied law, history of art, and literature at the Jagiellonian University of Kraków, but gave up his studies to join theatre. He worked in various theatres in Kraków, Poznań, Łódź, and Warsaw. He was the artistic director of Ateneum Theatre in Warsaw during the interwar period, where he staged groundbreaking productions of Danton's Death, The Captain of Köpenick, Ladies and Husars, and The Open House. He was also a writer and a publicist who contributed to several magazines and newspapers. During World War II, he was involved with the political and military Catholic underground organization Unia. He was arrested and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau after the assassination of actor and collaborator Igo Sym by the Polish Underground State. He was released after numerous interventions, but he died of tuberculosis in Otwock in 1945. He was buried in the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw. He is regarded as one of the most influential figures of Polish theatre.