Papusza died on 8 February 1987 in Inowrocław, Poland, ending the life of the pioneering first published Romani poet in Poland.
Bronisława Wajs, known as Papusza, died on 8 February 1987 in Inowrocław, Poland, where she had spent her final years under the care of her sister Janina. Her death closed the life of a woman whose literary career had been as extraordinary as it was fraught with personal tragedy: celebrated in Polish literary circles as a pioneering voice, yet ostracized for much of her adult life by the Roma community that felt betrayed by the publication of her poetry and the revelations of Roma customs contained in Jerzy Ficowski's accompanying scholarly writings.
At the time of her death, Papusza's reputation as the first Romani poet in Poland to publish under her own name was well established within Polish cultural memory, even as broader international recognition of her significance would grow substantially in subsequent decades. Her death came after a long period of declining health, psychological struggle — including past psychiatric hospitalization — and relative poverty, despite the string of cultural awards she received in the 1950s and again in the late 1970s.
Her legacy expanded considerably after her death, with renewed scholarly interest, museum commemorations in Inowrocław and Gorzów, republication of her poetry, and the acclaimed 2013 Polish biographical film Papusza, directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, which brought her remarkable and tragic story to a much wider international audience, cementing her place as a foundational figure in Roma literary and cultural history.