SUPRESSION OF ANTI-COMMUNIST LITERATURE IN POLAND

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A060100030001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 28, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 22, 1961
• Content Type: REPORT

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246AO60100030001-0
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY .'
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
SUBJECT Suppression of Anti-Communist DATE DISTR. ~2 pUG1981
Literature in Poland
n
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE AC
50X1-HUM
50X1-HUM
(report, entitled Suppression of
ti-Communist Literature in Poland, gives limited information on the
subject.
STATE JfJ ][ ARMY X NAVY X AIR X NSA X OCR
Li
111MIM's MW
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246AO60100030001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246AO60100030001-0 JM
4 August 1961
Suppression of Anti-Communist DATE DISTR:
Literature in Poland
DATE OF INFORMATIONI I NO. OF PAGES:
PLACE ACQUIRED
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246AO60100030001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246A060100030001-0 'SUM
1. A copy, in English, of Milovan D ilas' book, The New Class, was brought t
Poland in spring 1960.
2. asked the English-Polish translator L__1
Ito translate it into Polish for 50X1-HUM
him. His desire for a translation had two facets: his English was not good
enough for him to get all its fine points, and, being strongly anti-Communist,
he planned to strike a small blow against Communism by distributing type- 50X1-HUM
written copies of The New Class in Polish. did not know how many
persons knew of the distribution plan, but certainly 50X1-HUM
revealed it to the translator and at least one friend and colleague.
3. Early in summer 1960, arrested by the UB, suddenly and with-5? X1-H U M
out any warning. He was tried, was found guilty of spreading anti-Communist
propaganda, and was sentenced to five years in prison. Since the UB could
not find his copy of The Now Class they 50X1-HUM
made every effort to discover it. Finally, when he told them the
had it, they arrested her also, as well as another person to whom
had shown the book. Since had not yet begun the translation 50X1-HUM
and the man had merely read the book, they were charged only with reading 50X1-HUM
anti-Communist propaganda, and the charges of spreading it were dismissed
in their case. The UB seized the book.
4. I (possession of The New Class apparently came to the attention 50X1-HUM
of the authorities almost immediately after he purchased it
The UB, however, suspecting a
50X1-HUM
was perhaps part some anti-regime group, merely watched him for the first
month after he returned to work All his colleagues 50X1-HUM
sympathized with his family after his arrest. They regarded the five-year
sentence as unjust because he had done nothing wrong, and believed it served
only to ruin his career and bring hardship to his wife and two children. 50X1-HUM
5. Two books eagerly sought in Poland were officially prohibited and 50X1-HUM
hence impossible to find One was Pasternak's
Dr. Zhivago, the other the original version o one Cassino by the prominent
Polish writer Melchior Wankowicz. The book, dealing with a particularly
bloody battle waged and won by the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy during World 50X1-HUM
War II, was first written and published in the West
e Polish Communist reglm-e
republished the book, u in a sharply censored version.) 50X1-HUM
Wankowioz E_ I was still writing crit-
ical books about a regime in o an , u none or them was ever,-approved by
the censor and hence nothing had appeared in print. 50X1-HUM
C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP80T00246AO60100030001-0