Józef Grycz’s Organizational Input into the Process of Reconstructing Public Libraries after the Second World War (1945–1949) Part II

Abstract

Part I of this article (published in the previous volume) discussed Józef Grycz’s input into the preparation of the „Library and Library Collections Decree”, issued by the Polish Interim Government, on 17 December 1946. Part II deals first with his efforts as Director General of Libraries in Poland, regarding the implementation of the aforementioned decree with respect to public libraries. The author is interested especially in issues such as: choice of books for the libraries, control of the content of the collections, and „cleansing” of libraries of politically inappropriate books. All these issues had immediate impact on the evaluation of the activities of the Office of the General Director of Libraries, and J. Grycz personally by his Communist superiors. The latter part of the article looks into his works on creating the network of local self-government libraries, and especially the financial and political conditions of their establishing. The article is concluded with a short overview of what happened after Grycz’s dismissal in February 1949, and after the introduction of direct supervision of library activities in Poland by the Department of Enlightenment and Culture of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party (the Communist Party).