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Polska 1944/45-1989 : studia i materiały 10 (2011)
Creator: Contributor:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Publisher: Place of publishing: Date issued/created: Description:p. 61-122 ; Summary in English.
Type of object: Subject and Keywords:Polish people - foreign countries - 1945-1990 ; Polish political emigration ; Cold War ; political trials - Russia - 1945-1970
Abstract:The largest group of Gulag survivors who reached the West were the soldiers of General Anders Army. The importance of their testimony was obvious from the very beginning, thus two secret offices were set up in 1943–1944 to systematically gather and analyse their evidence. The offices publications did not receive a wide response, but their fragments were amply quoted by Sovietologists in the USA.The Americans and their allies, who at the beginning of the Cold War offered the suggestion to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations that an investigation into forced labour in the USSR should be launched, referred to the data included in Sovietologists works. Polish emigrants seized the opportunity to publicise their own testimonies. To this end, they established in Great Britain the Polish Association of Former Soviet Political Prisoners. The cause was supported by the Association of Polish Journalists in Exile. Yet, initially, Parisian episodes of that propaganda campaign had escaped the notice of the two organisations that were focusing their attention on the territory of Great Britain.The initial interest in the subject of Gulag was generated by Victor Kravchenko, an author of best-selling memories from his stay in the USSR, who brought a libel lawsuit against a French communist weekly “Les Lettres Françaises”. The only Polish group ready to cooperate with Kravchenko was the community of “Kultura” (“Culture”), a Polish periodical published in Paris. And it was this very group that as the first one paid attention to the initiative of a French journalist, David Rousset, who in his press appeal quoted Polish Gulag testimonies. Also Rousset sued “Les Lettres Françaises” in a French court. Thanks to the support of Jerzy Giedroyć and Jerzy Czapski, he established contacts with the abovementioned Polish émigré organisations and gained an access to the evidence materials and witnesses to win the case.
Relation:Polska 1944/45-1989 : studia i materiały
Volume: Start page: End page: Resource type: Detailed Resource Type: Format: Resource Identifier: Source:IH PAN, sygn. B.155/10 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. B.156/10 ; click here to follow the link
Language: Language of abstract: Rights:Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license
Terms of use:Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -
Digitizing institution:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Original in:Library of the Institute of History PAS
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