Kultura

Kultura was the most important magazine of the Polish emigration, Polonia, after the Second World War. She had a formative influence on the intellectual and political life of Poland.

Kultura appeared in the years 1947 to 2000 and was instrumental connected with the person of the editor Jerzy Giedroyc ( 1906-2000 ). He was in Rome the publisher Instytut Literacki founded in 1946, which should deal with the promotion of Polish literature abroad. Here was released in June 1947, the first issue of Kultura. Second responsible leader of the first issue was the writer Gustav Herling - Grudziński. Just one month later pulled the entire team in the vicinity of Paris in the place Maisons-Laffitte to where the magazine was published monthly from the autumn of 1947 to the end.

Besides Giedroyc had at it with the writer Józef Czapski, Zygmunt Hertz and Zofia Hertz. It soon became apparent that, leading representatives of the cultural life of Poland should collect in exile around the charismatic figure Giedroyc, who stood for the traditions of a liberal and democratic Poland and a good relationship with its neighbors in East and West. One of the closest aides after his flight was the future Nobel Czesław Miłosz. To those who so strongly in subsequent years by the " Kultura " benefited milieu, were world-famous writers like Witold Gombrowicz or Marek Hlasko, but also important for the Polish context, authors such as Andrzej Bobkowski Jerzy Stempowski or publicist Juliusz Mieroszewski. Since 1953, appeared in parallel also a book series, the Biblioteka Kultury, and since 1962, the historical journal Zeszyty Historyczne

As a model for development after 1989, the special thematic issues of " Kultura ", among other things, to have been with the Polish- German, the Polish- Russian, but mainly busy with the Polish- Ukrainian relationship. The Polish- Ukrainian reconciliation after the fall of communism, especially after the Orange Revolution of 2004 would not have been possible without the mental preparation by the Kultura. The same applies to the ratio of Poland to Lithuania. Born in Lithuania Giedroyc was nominated for his contribution to the rapprochement between the two countries in 1997, an honorary citizen of Lithuania. Giedroyc 's death on 14 September 2000 also marked the end for the magazine.