On the Dispute Following the Publication of the Book Wracam z Polski by Aleksander Janta-Połczyński: The Letter of Jan Lechoń to Jerzy Giedroyc (May 1949)

Abstract

After the transfer of Instytut Literacki from Rome to Paris, the break of the nineteen-forties and the nineteen-fi fties turned out to be formation time for the editorial strategy of Jerzy Giedroyc. During these days, the monthly Kultura acquired the leading part in the activities of the Instytut, and in this role it published, fervent at times, polemics, concerning the political line of the periodical. The printing of the fi rst part of the documentary by Aleksander Janta-Połczyński “Wracam z Polski 1948” (Upon my return from Poland, 1948) was received with indignation by the majority of the Polish émigré milieu. It also revealed the differences in the attitude of the “Polish” London and the Parisian Kultura towards post-war Poland. Kultura, upon the instructions of General Anders, was withdrawn from sale in Great Britain. Under such pressure, Giedroyc refused to publish the second part of the documentary in Kultura, but, fi nanced the edition of the complete book in early 1949. Giedroyc, and the Kultura team, refused to support the June 1947 resolution of the Union of Polish Writers, which in reality prohibited the publishing of “older and current works” in Poland. Giedroyc was also sceptical of the stance assumed by the London based journal Wiadomości, directed by Mieczysław Grydzewski, which cut itself completely off from what was happening in Poland, and criticised the persons who decided to return home, in particular the writers. The publishing of Janta’s article resulted in an exchange of letters between Józef Czapski, General Władysław Anders, and Jerzy Giedroyc, in October and November 1948. Each of them presented his own views, but no compromise was reached. Nevertheless, the most vehement turned out to be the so called “Pastoral” letter by Jan Lechoń to Jerzy Giedroyc, written by the poet, after having read the book in May 1949. At the time, Lechoń belonged to the closest collaborators of Mieczysław Grydzewski and the London Wiadomości. In his highly emotional dispatch, Lechoń accused Janta of conscious, or unconscious, writing for the Bolshevik cause, and the defence of Janta’s attitude by the Kultura milieu, in Lechoń’s eyes, was “most scandalising and extremely damaging with respect to the already disoriented and demoralised Polish émigré opinion”. However, Giedroyc refused to respond to the letter. In his opinion, the publishing of Janta’s book closed the issue. Lechoń’s letter is one of the most representative texts for the “indomitable” and “uncompromising” wing of the Polish emigration after World War II.