Uwe Warnke studied cartography in Dresden. In 1982, he created the artists' book ENTWERTER/ODER which was published underground until 1989. Since reunification, it has continued to be published, though now officially, and Warnke is still editor. He also has written articles for other publications like UND, USW and Die Spinne.

In 1990 he founded a company that publishes artists’ and painters’ books and began working with visual poetry. He is also a member of the artists’ book group 13+, which has held international exhibitions since 2000.

He is a recipient of the V.O. Stomps prize of the city of Mainz and of scholarships from Culture Fund Foundation Berlin, Social Art Funding Berlin and Künstlerhaus Lukas.

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Lokalizacja:
- Berlin, Germany

Wenzel, Hans Eckart

Already at the beginning of his studies in cultural studies and aesthetics at the Humboldt University in Berlin, Hans-Eckardt Wenzel founded the 'Liedertheater Karls Enkel' in 1976. Since his graduation in 1981, he works as a freelance writer, singer, actor and director. Together with Steffen Mensching he became known from 1979 to 1990 in the duo Mensching & Wenzel. He also followed the socio-political developments of his homeland with the socially critical 'Hammer Rehwü', and pre- and after regime change theatrical plays ('Neues', 'Altes' and 'Letztes,' 'aus der Da Da eR'). Wenzel was one of the main authors of the 'Resolution of Rock Musicians and Songwriters', which demanded 1989 changes in the GDR. As a soloist, he landed a 1986 success with his debut 'Stirb mir ein Stück'. Even after the fall of Berlin Wall he received awards, such as in 2002 the Kleinkunstpreis. Wenzel is a member of the PEN center Germany. As a critical songwriter, he continues to be successful on tour. Wenzel is also active as a writer of poetry books and audiobooks, for example in 2013 in collaboration with Christoph Hein for the audio book 'The First Book of Homer - Corrections'.

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Wierzchoś, Dariusz

Dr Dariusz Wierzchoś is a historian of Ukraine, Russia and the Russian Civil War. He received his PhD in history from Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin and works at the New Documents Archive in Warsaw. Between 2012 and 2016, he processed, described, and catalogued several collections of Józef Piłsudski Institute in London, including Prometheus collection.
Dr Wierzchoś's work at the Institute was made possible by Poland's Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, which, for a number of years, has sent Polish archivists to help emigre library and archival collections in the UK. He did not have any relationship with the communist regime and did not research cultural opposition in People's Poland.

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Lokalizacja:
- Warszawa, Warsaw, Poland

Wiesnerová, Mária

Maria Wiesner studied at the Conservatory in Bratislava (1970-1976). From 1976 to 1989, she worked as a teacher in the town of Partizánske and a year in the town of Topoľčany. As teachers in music schools, they were under the surveillance of the school director and the city police because their recordings were circulated among the people. Maria Wiesner said: “Once we were called to the staffroom by the director where the district inspector of education, the head of education, the director of the police and the director of the school were waiting for us. They played our own recording on the tape recorder and they wanted us to tell them the names of all the participants. We didn’t give the names of anyone except ourselves. Then we were interrogated “why we believed such delusions” and we were threatened by being dismissed. A few days later, I was called to the director where he gave me an already written application for the termination of my employment. I didn’t agree. The next day, he gave me a letter, transferring me to another school, to Topoľčany, for ideological and political reasons. In the next school year, I commuted 20 km daily to my workplace. Besides me, another colleague of mine was transferred for the same reasons to the music school in Chynorany. Their aim was to “break up” the band so that we could not be in touch. The National Security used to follow me, at times a police car used to accompany me on my way home from work, or to our meetings up to the house of my friends. It was a very unpleasant mental pressure.”The leader of Radostné srdce, Maria Wiesner, as well as the other members of the band, used to distribute their illegal cassettes and songs during their performances in various Christian communities and religious denominations from 1980 to 1989. Their subsequent albums, Čakám v nádeji [I’m Waiting in Hope] and Vianočné koledy [Christmas Carols] (1990) were recorded in Miloš Sládečka’s private studio in the town of Partizánske, and their Malý Dávid 2 [Little David 2] album in the P.S. Publisher 2002 studio. Since 1989, they have continued to perform in Partizánske, they play in public concerts, most often in Partizánske but abroad as well – in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

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Lokalizacja:
- Partizánske Dukelská 4, Slovakia

Wilson, Paul

Paul Wilson is a Canadian translator, writer and musician. He studied English at the University of Toronto and University of London. In 1967 he moved to Czechoslovakia. He taught English at language schools in Prague and Brno, later he worked as a translator. In Czechoslovakia, he met unofficial visual artists, writers and musicians and he even performed as a singer with the Czechoslovak underground rock band the Plastic People of the Universe. He translated works by unofficial Czechoslovak authors, for example, texts by Jindřich Chalupecký, Ivan Martin Jirous or Milan Knížák. These texts were also smuggled to the West. In 1977, after his association with underground musicians and the creation of Charter 77, he was expelled from Czechoslovakia. His wife, Czech photographer Helena Wilson (born Pospíšilová), could join him later, after many administrative delays. After his deportation to Canada, Wilson founded a record label “Boží mlýn” (God’s Mill) and released recordings of Czechoslovak underground bands. Moreover, he translated Czechoslovak samizdat or exile works by Václav Havel, Josef Škvorecký, Ivan Klíma, Bohumil Hrabal and others. He worked also as a journalist, editor and literary critic and he contributed to many American and British magazines. He is still translating Czech literature to this day.

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Lokalizacja:
- Brno, Czech Republic
- Kanada
- Praha, Prague, Czech Republic