Rola Józefa Grycza w powojennej ochronie zbiorów bibliotecznych

Abstrakt

During the Second World War Polish cultural heritage suffered severe losses. Among the persons who played an important role in the recovery of extant library collections was Józef Grycz. While the hostilities were still raging, Grycz was busy working out theoretical measures to be undertaken after the war. When peace finally came, Grycz immediately stepped in to implement his wartime ideas. During the period 1945–1949, he was active in book collection preservation on behalf of the Ministry of Enlightenment. It was on his initiative that the Central Directorate of Libraries was called into existence, as aministerial body responsible for library activities and the coordination of the all efforts in this respect undertaken by various institutions. He also published an instruction manual, which greatly facilitated works all over the country, and numerous official documents. His activities can be divided into two phases: the first one (to the end of 1946) consisted chiefly in physical protection of the recovered materials, while the second, which started with the launching of the Central Directorate at the beginning of 1947, concentrated on creating of a number of warehouses, where books were gathered, sorted, registered, and allocated with their future location in mind. Alodia Kawecka-Gryczowa, Józef Grycz’s wife, assisted him in those activities all along. The tasks undertaken by Grycz were extremely complicated and difficult. He was constantly hindered by all kinds of problems, which in the post-war Polish reality were inevitable. Nevertheless, under his guidance the salvage process covered more than ten million volumes. The significance of Grycz’s prominent personality in the preservation of Polish cultural heritage after World War II can hardly be overestimated.