“I am greatful for the publication of my silly writing…”: Stanisław Kościałkowski’s correspondence with “Wiadomości” [“News”]

Abstract

The paper presents thirty-one letters written by Professor Stanisław Kościałkowski, a historian affiliated with Stefan Batory University in Vilnius, to “Wiadomości” [“News”], a weekly newspaper published by Mieczysław Grydzewski between 1948 and 1964. Kościałkowski, like over 250 Polish academics who manged to emigrate when the Second World War broke out, had to satisfy themselves with sporadic lectures, usually directed towards other Polish migrants, participation in limited conferences, where they were invited as non-Polish scholars, and academic societies, and slimming possibilities of publishing the results of their research in scientific journals. As a result, the only way of sharing their knowledge and thoughts was to publish in popular science magazines and literary journals. Among them was Grydzewski’s “Wiadomości” which often published articles devoted to history as well as reviews and reports. It can be assumed that all the Polish academics who emigrated published in “Wiadomości”, regardless of their research interests and the actuality of their research; furthermore, the reach and popularity of “Wiadomości” helped to popularise Polish history on an unprecedented and unmatched scale.