Kryptonim „Czytelnik”. Kulisy pewnego śledztwa z lat 1968–1969

Abstract

In the times of the People’s Republic of Poland users of public libraries, frustrated with omnipresent censorship and ostentatious arrogance of the governmental and party authorities, placed short antinational, anti-Soviet or anticommunist comments in books borrowed from public libraries. Large investigation teams were engaged to trace anonymous authors of such comments and dozens and hundreds of people suspected of committing a crime were investigated for many years. The author of the article used investigation material from the years 1968–1969 concerning a few comments in a book borrowed from the Municipal Public Library in Chrzanów. It served as a starting point for relating to the contemporary political events which were accompanied by a climate of ubiquitous hypocrisy. The material was also used to illustrate the separate meaning of the anonymous texts in the creation of interpersonal communication and to show their influence on the increase of social awareness.