Selekcje książek w powojennym Krakowie w latach 1945–1956

Abstract

After World War II Poland became a Soviet puppet state. It enforced serious system changes, including changes in the politics of publishing and education. On October 1, 1951 the Ministry of Culture and Arts published The List of Books Subjected to Withdrawal (Wykaz książek podlegających wycofaniu) and the librarians were appointed by the party authorities as responsible for clearing bookshops and libraries of ideologically harmful books. The article presents the course of the abovementioned action on the basis of Cracow libraries with particular focus on the Municipal Public Library run by Józef Korpała. The party authorities carried out their policy on libraries and librarians ruthlessly and consequently which was shown by the political pressure exerted on director J. Korpała to subordinate to callous rules of censorship.