Krystyna and Czesław Bednarczyk’s contribution to edition of „Kultura” and „Orzeł Biały” on the turn of the 40s of 20th Century

Abstract

The article presents a little-known episode from the history of Polish press in exile. Its subject is Krystyna and Czesław Bednarczyk’s editorial cooperation with „Kultura” („Culture”, the most prominent émigré literary magazine of that time) and „Orzeł Biały” („The White Eagle”, the Polish 2nd Corps’ weekly magazine) in the 1950s. The article examines and briefl y describes the archival sources on this topic. They were collected mostly in the research centres for culture of Polish emigration in Maisons-Laffi tte (Literary Institute), Torun (Archives of Polish Emigration) and Cracow (the manuscript collection inherited by the Jagiellonian University through the last will of Krystyna Bednarczyk) and present the Bednarczyk’s contribution to artistic development of both magazines. Czesław and Krystyna Bednarczyk were founders of the publishing house and printing company Ofi cyna Poetów i Malarzy (Poets and Painters’ Press). Analysis of their correspondence, especially with Jerzy Giedroyc and Ryszard Piestrzyński, proves that the cooperation with editorial staffs used to be mutually benefi cial, as „Kultura” and „Orzeł Biały” helped Bednarczyks to promote their own undertaking. Although short, this episode in their biography therefore deserves to be considered as an achievement worth being remembered.