Wspomnienia o Władysławie Studnickim (oprac. M. Zakrzewski)

Abstract

In autumn 1984 Jerzy Giedroyc published a German issue of Kultura . It contained articles by Polish authors such as Konstanty Jelenski, Adam Michnik, Zdzislaw Najder, Jan Jozef Lipski, Jerzy Stempowski, Czeslaw Milosz, Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski and Stanislaw Swianiewicz. This list of renowned names emphasized the wish to familiarize the German reader with the greatest writers closely or loosely connected with the Literary Institute. The issue contained texts not only on the Polish-German relations, but was also a genuine attempt at promoting Kultura in German circles. An article by Swaniewicz was dedicated to the life of Wladyslaw Studnicki – the most important representative of the pro-German faction during War World I and the Second Polish Republic. The article has never been published in the Polish language. Courtesy of the Literary Institute in Masoins-Laffitte, Folia Historica Cracoviensa presents the original Polish work which was later translated into German. It is a very special text. Not only does Swaniewicz perfectly outline the key tenets of Studnicki’s doctrine and detail the social backdrop of Studnicki’s opinions, but he also revisits a number of personal memories of this figure. Thanks to Swaniewicz, in addition to studying the concept of the leading Polish ‘Germanophile’, we may also sense it through the author’s insightful and, at times, surprising interpretation.