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Andrzejewski Emeritus Professor Ofcushitic Languages and Literatures School of Oriental and African Studies, University Oflondon (1 February 1922-2 December 1994)

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Andrzejewski Emeritus Professor Ofcushitic Languages and Literatures School of Oriental and African Studies, University Oflondon (1 February 1922-2 December 1994) %RJXPLW:LWDOLV*RRVK$QGU]HMHZVNL(PHULWXV3URIHVVRURI&XVKLWLF/DQJXDJHV DQG/LWHUDWXUHV6FKRRORI2ULHQWDODQG$IULFDQ6WXGLHV8QLYHUVLW\RI/RQGRQ )HEUXDU\'HFHPEHU -RKQ:LOOLDP-RKQVRQ 1RUWKHDVW$IULFDQ6WXGLHV9ROXPH1XPEHU 1HZ6HULHV SS $UWLFOH 3XEOLVKHGE\0LFKLJDQ6WDWH8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV '2, KWWSVGRLRUJQDV )RUDGGLWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKLVDUWLFOH KWWSVPXVHMKXHGXDUWLFOHVXPPDU\ Access provided by Goteborgs universitet (6 Dec 2016 22:55 GMT) Bogumft Witalis "Goosh" Andrzejewski Emeritus Professor ofCushitic Languages and Literatures School of Oriental and African Studies, University ofLondon (1 February 1922-2 December 1994) John WilliamJohnson Indiana University B. W. "Goosh" Andrzejewski, the leading Western academic author- ity on Somali language and literature, died in a hospital in Hemel- Hempstead on 2 December 1994, of complications resulting from myasthenia gravis (a severe muscle disease) and cancer. Goosh spent over half his life, some 46 years, studying the culture of the Somali and Oromo peoples of the Horn of Africa, and his publications number more than 100 articles, six book-length monographs, and an anthology of his own poetry composed in his native Polish. He was fluent in Somali, Polish, and English, and he had reading and speaking abilities in Orominya, French, Italian, German, and Russian. He was a witty raconteur, a devout Roman Catholic, a devoted husband, a sym- pathetic friend, and a patient teacher and counselor to countless stu- dents and acquaintances of many nationalities. He was a living example of Chaucer's epithet to his clerk, "And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach." Goosh Andrzejewski was born in Poznan, Poland, on 1 February 1922. His father had a prosperous business in skins and furs, and his mother came from an eastern Polish family which, until the early 19th century, had been landowners; but they lost their property during the Polish insurrections against the Russian tsars. His maternal grandfather was a photographer, and his maternal grandmother became a widow quite early in her marriage, and earned a living for her family as a pi- anist. She was a wonderful narrator and reciter of poetry, had a vivid and profound influence on her young grandson, and was responsible ©Northeast African Studies (ISSN 0740-9133) Vol. 2, No. 1 (New Series) 1995, pp. 7-30 8 John William Johnson for much of his upbringing. Goosh's mother became ill when he was only seven years old, and she died in 1939 when he was 17. Goosh's paternal grandparents came from western Poland, which had been part of the German Empire, and his grandfather was a small- livestock merchant. His paternal heritage was one of resistance, as both his grandparents and his father, like all the Poles in that region, fiercely resisted the Prussian government's policy of suppressing the Polish language. Poles were beaten at school for speaking their native language, especially when they refused to pray in German at assembly time. These family traditions go a long way in explaining Goosh's strong sympathies with the Somali people who also suffered under foreign colonial domination. Goosh began school in Poznan, but transferred to Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains because of a lung ailment. When World War II broke out in Poland on 1 September 1939, Goosh was in Warsaw, where he stayed during the siege which lasted almost a month. The Polish garri- son were forced to surrender when food and ammunition ran out, and there was a widespread cholera epidemic caused by lack of pure water. What followed was an awesome adventure for an 18-year-old. In order to avoid being shipped to Germany for forced labor, Goosh deter- mined to escape from Poland through Slovakia to Hungary, which at that time was still neutral. At his third attempt he succeeded, and was able to deliver a message he had been carrying for the Polish under- ground to a contact in Hungary. He was asked to take a reply back to Poland, but by that time, he had decided to try to get to the nearest fighting front, which was Palestine. Left to his own devices, without money or papers, he had the original idea of smuggling himself into an internment camp for Poles on the shores of Lake Balaton, one of the largest lakes in Europe. It was not long, however, before Hungary be- came friendly with Nazi Germany and Goosh judged it was time to move on. With a friend, he planned an amazing journey across the lake, which was frozen over in the exceptionally cold winter of 1940. The two set out at night during a snow storm with only a bottle of vodka, a kilo of sugar, and a luminous compass given to them by some kind people in the camp. The journey took about 12 hours, as they were forced to walk against a strong wind in the freezing weather. Goosh col- lapsed more than once, but his Russian companion continuously in- Bogumñ Witalis "Goosh"Andrzejewski 9 suited and taunted him, arousing an anger which pulled him to his feet to press on. Toward morning, the journey became terribly frightening, as the sun began to rise and a cracking and grinding sound announced the melting of the ice. But they eventually made it across the lake to the safety of the bank on the other side, where they made contact with some sympathetic people who gave them provisions, money, and train tickets for Yugoslavia. Ironically, on they day they arrived in Yugoslavia, Italy invaded the country from the west, and as they continued their journey south, Goosh and his companion bought newspapers in the local language and pretended to fall asleep behind them to avoid conversation on their journey. Eventually they escaped through Greece and Turkey to the British Palestine Protectorate in February of 1941, just after Goosh's 19th birthday. Because he had been traveling on false papers, he had to establish his real identity and prove that he was not a spy before he could enlist for military training in the Polish Army under British com- mand. Fortunately it was not long before he was vouched for by a friend from school. August 1941, found him in Egypt in an infantry unit, which was transported by the British Navy to Tobruk, which was, at the time, under siege from all sides except for the sea coast. In November 1941, he was wounded, and in December, after Tobruk was liberated, he was sent to a military hospital in Alexandria. When he recovered, he volun- teered for other duties and was posted to a unit which, in July 1942, set out from Port Suez on the HMS Queen Mary for New York City. This luxury liner had been converted for military duty during the war and was transporting German prisoners of war from Libya to New York. The ship journeyed via Cape Town in South Africa and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Although Goosh had begun learning English in Hungary in 1940 (using a German book, English in 30 Hours Without a Teacher) it was in Libya that he began to make real progress, for it was there that he met soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain. Eventually he acted as an interpreter, for which there was a great demand, since most members of the Polish Forces did not speak English. In August 1942, the Polish unit that had escorted the German prisoners of war to the United States delivered them to the American Army, which took them 10 John William Johnson by land to Canada. The Poles were then sent to England on an Ameri- can troop ship. During the journey, Goosh became ill with jaundice and spent most of the voyage in sick bay, being sent upon arrival to a British military hospital near Liverpool and later to a convalescent depot in Ormskirk. When he recovered, he was sent to a Polish artillery unit, and then transferred to the Air Force; but he became ill again during the training and was assigned to administrative duties, becoming a clerk and interpreter. In 1944, when in the headquarters of a Polish Air Force Unit near Nottingham in the English Midlands, Goosh met a young woman named Sheila Weekes during a hospitality weekend organized by an am- ateur dramatic society to which she belonged. Two years later they were married at Oxford, thus beginning a long and happy marriage. It was during this time that Goosh took correspondence courses from Wolsey Hall in Oxford and later an entrance examination, as an external stu- dent, at the University of London. He was tested in English, French, Latin, and Logic and Scientific Method, and then the Intermediate (first year) Examination at the same university. In October 1944 he was given leave from military service to study English language and literature at Oriel College, University of Oxford, on a scholarship that was open to any Polish student; it was offered by a Roman Catholic organization called the Newman Association. This grant had been established as a gesture of solidarity between the British and the Polish peoples because of the systematic extermination of Polish intellectuals by the Nazis in occupied Poland. Goosh was selected because of his academic record and because he had achieved a certain degree of acclaim as a poet, writ- ing in Polish. He completed his studies at Oxford in 1947 and obtained an Honors Degree, Second Class, in English, specializing in linguistics and minoring in Old Icelandic. It was also during this period of the late war years that Goosh's life was spared by a matter of minutes. One day he was walking to a bureau in London to conduct some business when he heard the unmistakable sound of a German V-I rocket, the infamous "buzz bomb," which terror- ized the British in southern England.
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