Three anniversaries fall in 2006:
Jerzy Giedroyc's centenary of birth; 60th anniversary of the establishment of the Instytut Literacki (Literary Institute); and the centenary of birth of Juliusz Mieroszewski, one of the key political contributors to the Parisian "Kultura".
In July 2005 the Sejm (Polish Parliament) adopted a resolution announcing 2006 THE YEAR OF JERZY GIEDROYC.
"Jerzy Giedroyc devoted all his life to the cause of independent Poland, tolerant and modern, yet respecting its national traditions. The Kultura monthly that Giedroyc created has been to Poles a realization of the ideals of freedom of speech and thought for more than half a century. Kultura's columns were open to contributors from the right and the left, to those associated with Pilsudski and those representing the national movement, to liberals and conservatists alike", said the Resolution (full text...).
The Sejm's resolution was preceded by
UNESCO's decision to celebrate the Year of Jerzy Giedroyc in 2006.
The Society for the Protection of the Instytut Literacki Archive in Paris (Towarzystwo Opieki nad Archiwum Instytutu Literackiego w Paryzu), established in 1996 in Poland, has put together an extensive programme for THE YEAR OF JERZY GIEDROYC. One of the initiatives is to launch all issues of "Kultura" on CDs and distribute them to public libraries across Poland. Another is to run an international conference on the activities of the Instytut Literacki. It is also planned to mint coins with the image of Jerzy Giedroyc and to issue a series of "The Instytut Literacki in Paris" post stamps.
Jerzy Giedroyc (born in 1906, died in 2000) was an essayist, politician, creator and editor of the Parisian "Kultura". He studied law and history at Warsaw University. As a young man he edited the weekly "Dzien Akademicki", later transformed into the bi-weekly "Bunt Mlodych" and, in 1936, into the weekly "Polityka". In the inter-war period Giedroyc was involved in politics; he worked in the Press Office of the Council of Ministers, was a secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and, later, the head of the Presidium Department at the Ministery of Industry and Commerce. When World War II broke out, the government, and Giedroyc, too, were evacuated to Romania. He managed the Polish Office at the Chilean Embassy in Romania once it took over care of the Polish interests after the Polish Embassy was closed down. As a soldier of the Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade (Samodzielna Brygada Strzelcow Karpackich), he took part in the campaign in Libya and the battle of Tobruk.
After the war Giedroyc established the Instytut Literacki in Rome and in 1947, together with
Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, published the first issue of "Kultura". The same year the journal moved to Paris, where it would group leading Polish writers and intellectuals in emigration. Ten years later the Instytut Literacki started to publish its "Kultura" Library (Biblioteka "Kultury") book series.
The Honorary Committee of the celebration of The Year of Jerzy Giedroyc...
See also:
- "Jerzy Giedroyc: culture - politics - the 20th century" - International Academic Conference; Warsaw University, September 25 - September 27, 2006
- "Wokol Giedroycia / Around Giedroyc" - the display focuses on the Editor and his life's opus: the Literary Institute and its flagship journal, "Kultura"; The Adam Mickiewicz Museum of Literature in Warsaw, June 29, 2006 - January 31, 2007
- "Jerzy Giedroyc and 'The Lost Romantics...' " - "The Lost Romantics..." is how Waclaw A. Zbyszewski referred to "Kultura's" founders in one of his essays...; several dozen venues around Poland; till December 2006
- "Jerzy Giedroyc - Prince of Emigrants" - The several dozen panels on display present the Editor's path through life...; the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Museum of Polish Refugees in Warsaw; February 15 - July 15, 2006
- "Jerzy Giedroyc i 'Dziupla Kultury' " / "Jerzy Giedroyc and writing for 'Kultura'" - visitors to this exhibition will come across a lesson about the literary achievements of perhaps the best-known Polish émigré institution, the Literary Institute; exhibition rooms in Warsaw, Krakow, Wroclaw, Lublin, Poznan, Szczecin, Lodz, till December 2006
Krakow, Jagiellonian Library, January 18 - February 20, 2007
- "A distant closeness - the Republic in exile: Jerzy Giedroyc, Maisons-Laffitte, London, Naples..." - the exhibition of photographs by Bohdan Paczowski presents the portraits of Polish exiles, chief among them individuals associated with the Paris-based magazine "Kultura"; Istituto Polacco di Roma, October 2006