Bulletins of the Polish censorship office from 1945 to 1956. A reconnaissance study

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss selected research perspectives offered by the bulletins of the censorship office created in Poland from 1945 to 1956. Due to the chiefly confidential nature of the analysed documents I defined them as classified papers, ordered by the state, directed mainly to censors. These documents were internally circulated in the Main and Voivodship Offices of Control of Press, Publications and Shows. Due to their aim bulletins played an informational, tutorial or training role, and functioned as a type of a guide for censorship practices. Due to the distribution they are cryptotexts (i.e. classified texts of intentionally limited distribution). In the article I discussed the state of knowledge on the bulletins and I also considered the context-based identity conditions of the periodical. I indicated the pitfalls which accompany any attempt at recreating the profile of the implied censor and I discussed the language of the bulletins. I also indicated the content of the paper. Bulletins presented mainly the materials on censorship and on the organisations of work in the Office of Control. The research material consists of both articles from the editorial office and from the voivodship’s offices (i.e. censorship reviews, reports, letters from the censor units or from the particular censors) and even literary attempts of the censors themselves.

Keywords

• classified bulletins of the censorship office
• censorship in post-war poland
• censorship of literature
• censor
• cryptotexts