pro-Soviet Polish writers, producing numerous works praising the Soviet regime, including the first poem about Stalin written in the Polish language (Stalin, "Czerwony Sztandar", 5 December 1939). A number of his works appeared in the Czerwony Sztandar (Red Banner) newspaper. On 19 November 1939 Lec signed a resolution calling for the incorporation of Polish Eastern Borderlands into the territory of the Soviet Union. Lec's collaboration with the Soviet authorities remains controversial to this day, though he has been defended by Adam Michnik who wrote in his 2007 book that Lec has been unfairly branded by critical opinion as a "Soviet collaborator" on the basis of his "weakest, least successful, or most frankly conformist pieces". After Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union he was imprisoned in a German work camp in Tarnopol (now Ternopil), from which he made several attempts to escape. He received a death sentence for his second attempt to escape, but managed to successfully escape in 1943. In his autobiography he described his escape as having taken place after he killed his guard with a shovel when taken to dig his own grave. This became the subject of one of his most famous poems "He who had dug his own grave" (from the cycle "To Abel and Cain"): He who had dug his own grave looks attentively at the gravedigger's work, but not pedantically: for this one digs a grave not for himself. After his escape he participated in partisan warfare within the communist formations of Polish resistance (the Gwardia Ludowa and the Armia Ludowa), and eventually served in regular units of Polish People's Army until the end of the war, which he finished with the rank of major. He also edited the communist resistance underground newsletter Żołnierz w Boju (Soldier in Combat) and the communist magazine Wolny Lud (Free Nation). Lec's wartime service allowed him to obtain a diplomatic post as a cultural attaché in Vienna. Becoming disillusioned with the Communist government, he left for Israel in 1950 with his wife, son and daughter. Lec couldn't adapt to the life in Israel and returned to Poland with his son after two years there. His wife and daughter remained in Israel. He moved to a small town in which he had been in the underground during the war, and remarried there before returning to Warsaw. At first he worked as a translator, as the Polish communist authorities