Kultura w programach Jerzego Giedroycia

Abstract

The article aims to present the cultural matters from Kultura Paryska (Paris-based Culture) in the context of the cultural-creative function of the media and media strategies of cultural diplomacy. Kultura Paryska was published in 1946-2000 as a periodical of the Institute of Literature in Paris, its creator and editor was Jerzy Giedroyc. Due to its program distinctiveness (the stake in contacts with the country) and high publicity effort, it was perceived as a centre of political thought pursuing the independence ideals through the concepts of good neighbourly relations between Poland and Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus and Germany in the conditions of geopolitical changes in Europe after the dissolution of the USSR and German reunification. The programme articles were written by Juliusz Mieroszewski, Jerzy Stempowski, Bohdan Osadczuk, Leopold Unger, among others. Giedroyc paid attention to the balance of political and cultural content in the issues of the magazine, and what is more important, he let authors from Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus to publish in the magazine. He was the originator of a series of chronicles, including ones concerning Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, Germany, and press reviews, which were the basic source of information about the lives of emigrants and life in their abandoned homelands. Giedroyc, through Kultura, pursued a strategy of influencing public opinion by combining political and cultural matters because he was convinced that in this way he would contribute to the rejection of stereotypes and make it possible to learn about common history and culture.