Kurierzy wolnego słowa : (Paryż - Praga - Warszawa 1968-1970)

Kaliski, Bartosz (1977– )

doi:978-83-63352-32-5

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Kurierzy wolnego słowa : (Paryż - Praga - Warszawa 1968-1970)

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Title: Kurierzy wolnego słowa : (Paryż - Praga - Warszawa 1968-1970)

Abstract:

The monthly Kultura (Culture) edited by Jerzy Giedroyc was one of the most important Polish periodicals of the 20th century. From 1947 on, it was published in Paris. Because of its critical attitude towards the communist regime, in 1950 Kultura was prohibited in the territory of Poland. Despite bans and difficulties, however, numerous authors from Poland entered into cooperation with the monthly, thus making it an opinion-forming periodical acting as an intermediary between the milieux of intelligentsia in the emigration and in the country. Giedroyc also published books – political commentary ones and belles-lettres. He was especially eager to publish texts sent from Poland, including those written by former communists. Communist propaganda of the Polish People’s Republic fought against Kultura, especially strongly from the mid-1960s. After the March of 1968 it was increasingly difficult for both the monthly itself and the books to reach Polish readers in the country. It was the mountain climber and journalist Maciej Kozłowski (born in 1943), who after entering a collaboration with Giedroyc in 1968, committed to change this state of affairs. Kozłowski tried to open a new, secret way of delivering the monthly to the Polish People’s Republic – via Czechoslovakia (the Tatra Mountains). A smuggling action did not reach the planned level for it was thwarted by the operations of the Polish secret services. In 1969 many associates and friends of Kozłowski and Giedroyc in Poland were arrested. From among them, the security service selected a group of five people (namely: Maciej Kozłowski, Maria Tworkowska, Krzysztof Szymborski, Jakub Karpiński, Małgorzata Szpakowska; only some of them had met personally before the trial) to be indicted in a show trial made public by a propaganda campaign. The trial was held in February of 1970 and the accused received relatively high sentences of several years of imprisonment. This so-called “trial of the mountain climbers” was yet another element of the repressive policy of the Polish authorities against intellectuals and student communities in Poland, initiated in the March of 1968. The sentences were to scare off the prospective readers and authors of the Kultura. The book presents the profiles of the five convicts (including their motives), their activities in 1968–1969 (in Poland, France and Czechoslovakia) against the rich background of the contemporary political developments in Europe (March 1968, Prague Spring, the invasion of the Warsaw Pact troops against Czechoslovakia) and publishing policy of the Kultura. The author also reveals the decision-making processes within the apparatus of repression of the Polish People’s Republic related to the arrests and method of investigation as well as ways to create a propaganda narrative about the accused. There is a concise description of the trial of M. Kozłowski and others, together with its political repercussions.