Ocenzurować przeszłość? Temat Zagłady w dokumentach GUKPPiW w drugiej połowie lat 70. XX wieku

Abstract

The paper addresses the issue of censoring the topic of the Second World War, mainly the Holocaust, in the second half of the 1970s. The author’s considerations are based on archival materials found in the Archives of Modern Records, in the collection of the Central Office for Press, Publication and Performance Control. The analysis of the documents indicates that censors were very scrupulous in reading prose, poetry texts and personal documents, which referred to the events of 1939–1945, as well as to the situation after 1945 (especially relations with the USSR). In order to illustrate censorship measures, the paper quotes selected fragments of works by Agnieszka Barłóg and Władysław Szlengel. An attempt is also made to answer the question of why the actions of the officials of the Central Office for Press, Publication and Performance Control at the time may have been part of a broader strategy and whether they were, from the point of view of censorship, effective.