Emigracyjne konstatacje Jerzego Giedroycia i Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzińskiego z 1983 r. Perspektywa francuska i włoska

From the beginning of the 1830s, mass emigration from Poland, not occurring on such a scale before, was noted, mainly for political reasons (especially after the defeats of the November and January uprisings). The emigration trend continued throughout practically the entire 20th century. It entered the history of Poles, especially the war and post-war period. The coming to power of the communists generated many problems. For political reasons, many dissidents sought freedom outside enslaved Poland. Many of them voluntarily and also under the compulsion of the then “people’s” government. There were two main centers of the political and cultural life of the Polish diaspora – in London and Paris. The Literary Institute, with its founder Jerzy Giedroyc and collaborator Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, played a significant role in the post-war period. Both, despite having different experiences and visions of a free and independent Poland, unanimously saw emigration as a specific form of struggle against the communist regime in Poland. They saw help and weapons in this struggle in the spoken and written word, through which they influenced both the Polish diaspora in many countries and their compatriots in Poland, which was subjugated by communists. They noticed the entire complexity of the problems faced by Polish emigrants, especially those arriving abroad at the beginning of the 1980s. Their accurate diagnoses and advice were not always accepted by the Polish diaspora. The interviews with them in a retrospective form reflect the atmosphere and spirit of the difficult and complex reality of that time.