Editing Jerzy Kosiński (section)

== Life  ==
Kosiński was born Józef Lewinkopf to Jewish parents in [[Łódź]], Poland, in 1933.<ref>Moshe Pelli: ''The Shadow of Death: Letters in Flames''. University Press of America, 2007.</ref> As a child during World War II, he lived in [[Occupation of Poland (1939–1945)|occupied central Poland]] under a false identity, Jerzy Kosiński, which his father gave him. [[Eugeniusz Okoń]], a Catholic priest, issued him a forged baptismal certificate, and the Lewinkopf family survived the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] thanks to local villagers who offered [[Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust|assistance to Polish Jews]], at grave personal risk. Kosiński's father was assisted not only by town leaders and clergymen, but by individuals such as Marianna Pasiowa, a member of an underground network that helped Jews evade capture. 

The family lived openly in [[Dąbrowa Rzeczycka]], near [[Stalowa Wola]], and attended church in nearby [[Wola Rzeczycka]], with the support of villagers in [[Kępa Rzeczycka]]. For a time, they were sheltered by a Catholic family in [[Rzeczyca Okrągła]]. Jerzy even served as an [[altar boy]] in the local church.<ref>James Park Sloan. Jerzy Kosiński: A Biography (New York: Dutton/Penguin, 1996), pp.7–54.</ref>

After the war, Kosiński's father aligned himself with Poland's communist regime, and the family was relatively well off.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Myers |first=D. G. |date=1996-10-01 |title=A Life Beyond Repair |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/10/003-a-life-beyond-repair |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=First Things |language=en |archive-date=May 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240504233537/https://www.firstthings.com/article/1996/10/003-a-life-beyond-repair |url-status=live }}</ref> Kosiński and his parents moved to [[Jelenia Góra]]. By age 22 he had earned degrees in history and sociology at the [[University of Łódź]].<ref name="Taylor"/> He then became a teaching assistant at the [[Polish Academy of Sciences]]. Kosiński also studied in the [[Soviet Union]], and served as a [[sharpshooter]] in the [[Polish Army]].<ref name="Taylor"/> A biographer writes that Kosinski disliked conformity and therefore the communism that his father had sworn allegiance to, and developed [[Anti-communism|anti-communist]] views.<ref name=":0" />

In order to emigrate to the United States in 1957, he created a fake foundation which ostensibly sponsored him.<ref name=people1>{{cite news |first=Andrea |last=Chambers |title=Because He Writes from Life—his—sex and Violence Haunt Jerzy Kosiński's Fiction |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074595,00.html |work=People Weekly |access-date=June 28, 2008 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213543/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20074595,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> He later said he had forged letters from prominent communist authorities guaranteeing his return to Poland, which were then required for anyone leaving the country.<ref name=people1 />

Kosiński first worked at odd jobs to get by, including driving a truck,<ref name=people1/> and he managed to graduate from Columbia University. In 1965 he became an American citizen. In 1967 he received a [[John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation|Guggenheim Foundation]] fellowship, and in 1968 a grant from the [[Ford Foundation]]. In 1970 he won an [[American Academy of Arts and Letters]] award for literature.<ref>{{cite news |title=In Novels and Life, a Maverick and an Eccentric |author=Mervyn Rothstein |newspaper=The New York Times |date=May 4, 1991 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/04/obituaries/in-novels-and-life-a-maverick-and-an-eccentric.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |access-date=February 9, 2017 |archive-date=April 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420203726/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/04/obituaries/in-novels-and-life-a-maverick-and-an-eccentric.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live }}</ref> The grants allowed him to write a political nonfiction book that opened new doors of opportunity.<ref name=people1/> He became a lecturer at Yale, Princeton, Davenport, and Wesleyan Universities.

Kosiński practiced photographic art, with a 1957 one-man exhibition at Warsaw's Crooked Circle [''Krzywe Koło''] Gallery and a 1988 exhibition at New York's Andre Zarre Gallery.

In 1962 Kosiński married an American steel heiress, [[Mary Hayward Weir]], eighteen years his senior; four years later they divorced. Weir died in 1968 from brain cancer, leaving Kosiński out of her will. He fictionalized the marriage in his novel ''Blind Date'', describing Weir under the name Mary-Jane Kirkland.<ref name=people1/> In 1968 he married Katherina "Kiki" von Fraunhofer (1933–2007), a marketing consultant and descendant of [[Bavaria]]n nobility.<ref name=people1/>

=== Death ===
Toward the end of his life Kosiński suffered from multiple illnesses, and questions arose regarding [[plagiarism]] in his work.<ref name=medscape/> By his late 50s he was suffering from an [[irregular heartbeat]].<ref name="Taylor">Taylor, John. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=VukCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA24 The Haunted Bird: The Death and Life of Jerzy Kosinski] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528104403/http://books.google.com/books?id=VukCAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA24 |date=May 28, 2013 }}", ''New York'' Magazine, June 15, 1991.</ref>

He died by suicide on 3 May 1991 by ingesting a [[combined drug intoxication|lethal amount]] of [[alcohol poisoning|alcohol]] and [[drug overdose|drugs]] and wrapping a plastic bag around his head, [[asphyxia|suffocating]] himself.<ref name=obitnyt/><ref name=Taylor/> His suicide note read: "I am going to put myself to sleep now for a bit longer than usual. Call it Eternity."<ref name=medscape>{{cite news|first=William |last=Breitbart |author2=Rosenfeld, Barry |title=Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Influence of Psychosocial Issues |url=http://www.moffitt.org/moffittapps/ccj/v6n2/article3.htm |quote=Jerzy Kosiński, the Polish novelist and Holocaust survivor, committed suicide in May 1991. Like other individuals suffering with chronic medical illnesses, he chose suicide as a means of controlling the course of his disease and the circumstances of his death. |publisher=Moffitt Cancer Center |access-date=February 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717210852/http://www.moffitt.org/moffittapps/ccj/v6n2/article3.htm |archive-date=July 17, 2011 }}</ref><ref>Article in ''[[Newsweek]]'', May 13, 1991.</ref> Per his wishes, Kosiński was cremated and [[Oscar de la Renta]] spread his ashes near his home in the Dominican Republic, off a small cove in Casa de Campo.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 2, 2014 |title=I Am Jerzy Kosinski |url=https://www.therupturemag.com/the-collagist/2014/2/2/i-am-jerzy-kosinski.html |access-date=April 9, 2024 |website=The Rupture |language=en-US |archive-date=April 9, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240409233253/https://www.therupturemag.com/the-collagist/2014/2/2/i-am-jerzy-kosinski.html |url-status=live }}</ref>