Jerzy Borejsza (; born Beniamin Goldberg; 14 July 1905 in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

– 19 January 1952 in Warsaw) was a Polish

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

activist and writer. During the

Stalinist Stalinism (, ) is the totalitarian means of governing and Marxist–Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1927 to 1953 by dictator Joseph Stalin and in Soviet satellite states between 1944 and 1953. Stalinism in ...

period of communist Poland, he was chief of a state press and publishing syndicate.

Biography

Borejsza was born as Beniamin Goldberg to a

Polish Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...

family.Borejsza Jerzy
at

WIEM Encyklopedia WIEM Encyklopedia (full name in - "Great Interactive Multimedia Encyclopedia"; in Polish, ''wiem'' also means 'I know') is a Polish Internet encyclopedia. The encyclopedia was based on the first printed edition was released in mid-1990s (with Vo ...

He was an older brother of Józef Różański – later a member of the Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and high-ranking interrogator in the

Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...

of Poland.Marci Shore, ''Caviar and ashes: a Warsaw generation's life and death in Marxism, 1918–1968'', Yale University Press, 2006,
Google Print, p. xvii
/ref> As a youth, Borejsza sympathized with the

Zionist Zionism is an Ethnic nationalism, ethnocultural nationalist movement that emerged in History of Europe#From revolution to imperialism (1789–1914), Europe in the late 19th century that aimed to establish and maintain a national home for the ...

radical left and anarchic political factions.Jerzy Borejsza
at Dia-pozytyw After he got in trouble with the Polish authorities, his father sponsored his residence in France. Borejsza studied engineering, then

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

culture at the Sorbonne, and remained deeply involved with the politics and activism of anarchism. After his studies, Borejsza returned home and was briefly enlisted in the

Polish Army The Land Forces () are the Army, land forces of the Polish Armed Forces. They currently contain some 110,000 active personnel and form many components of the European Union and NATO deployments around the world. Poland's recorded military histor ...

in the late 1920s. In 1929, he joined the

Communist Party of Poland The interwar Communist Party of Poland (, KPP) was a communist party active in Poland during the Second Polish Republic. It resulted from a December 1918 merger of the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) and the ...

(KPP). In the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

, he was imprisoned several times in the years 1933–1935 for agitation and political propaganda. After the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...

of 1939, Borejsza became a vocal supporter of the Soviet communist regime, publishing

Polish language Polish (, , or simply , ) is a West Slavic languages, West Slavic language of the Lechitic languages, Lechitic subgroup, within the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family, and is written in the Latin script. It is primarily spo ...

translations of

Soviet propaganda Propaganda in the Soviet Union was the practice of state-directed communication aimed at promoting class conflict, proletarian internationalism, the goals of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the party itself. The main Soviet cen ...

. He served as director of the

Ossolineum Ossoliński National Institute (, ZNiO), or the Ossolineum is a Polish cultural Foundation (non-profit), foundation, publishing house, archival institute and a research centre of national significance founded in 1817 in Lwów (now Lviv). Located ...

Institute in

Lwów Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

(Lviv) in 1939–1940. After the war, as Lviv was transferred to the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, he aided the transport of most of Ossolineum archives to

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

. He was one of the founders of the

Union of Polish Patriots Union of Polish Patriots (''Society of Polish Patriots'', , ZPP, ) was a political body created by Polish communists in the Soviet Union in 1943. The ZPP, unofficially controlled and directed by Joseph Stalin, became one of the founding structur ...

– an organization from which the communist government of post-war Poland in part originated. Borejsza served with the rank of major in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, and then in the Polish First Army. He organized and edited the chief organ of the PKWN, which was the daily newspaper "Rzeczpospolita". In 1944, he founded the weekly "Odrodzenie", which he entrusted to Karol Kuryluk. It was in its pages that in January 1945 Borejsza published his programmatic article Revolution Gentle, in which he made an offer to the Polish intelligentsia to cooperate in building post-war cultural life. Around "Rebirth" it was possible to gather debutants known later: Julia Hartwig, Anna Kamieńska, Jacek Bocheński and Zygmunt Kałużyński. Authors with already recognized names also published on its pages. In 1948, on the wave of changes in cultural policy, Borejsza took over the editorship of "Rebirth" and managed it until 1950, that is, until the magazine was merged with "Kuźnica" and "Nowa Kultura" was created. Signatory of the Stockholm Appeal in 1950. He joined the new pro-Soviet Polish communist party, the

Polish Workers' Party The Polish Workers' Party (, PPR) was a communist party in Poland from 1942 to 1948. It was founded as a reconstitution of the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) and merged with the Polish Socialist Party (PPS) in 1948 to form the Polish United W ...

, and became a deputy to the

State National Council Krajowa Rada Narodowa in Polish language, Polish (translated as State National Council or Homeland National Council, abbreviated to KRN) was a parliament-like political body created during the later stages of World War II in Nazi Germany, German- ...

. He organized much of communist propaganda in post-war Poland and was a leading figure in the implementation of state control and censorship in the area of

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

.Andrzej Paczkowski, Jane Cave, ''The spring will be ours: Poland and the Poles from occupation to freedom'', Penn State Press, 2003,
Google Print, p.193
/ref> He created the giant publishing house '' Czytelnik'' ('The Reader'). Borejsza favored a moderate approach to culture control, which he called a "gentle revolution". He supported establishing cultural relations with the

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, and himself traveled to

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 1948, he was one of the main organizers of the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace in Wrocław. He fell out of favor with the Stalinist hardliners who saw him as too independent, too hard to influence, and not radical enough. His political role diminished in the late 1940s, particularly after the disabling injuries he suffered in a car accident in 1949. Borejsza received the

Order of Polonia Restituta The Order of Polonia Restituta (, ) is a Polish state decoration, state Order (decoration), order established 4 February 1921. It is conferred on both military and civilians as well as on alien (law), foreigners for outstanding achievements in ...

. He was buried at the

Powązki Cemetery Powązki Cemetery (; ), also known as Stare Powązki (), is a historic necropolis located in Wola district, in the western part of Warsaw, Poland. It is the most famous cemetery in the city and one of the oldest, having been established in 179 ...

in Warsaw.

Works

* ''Hiszpania 1873–1936'' ('Spain 1873–1936', 1937) * ''Na rogatkach kultury polskiej'' ('At the Outskirts of Polish Culture', 1947)

Quotes

Czesław Miłosz Czesław Miłosz ( , , ; 30 June 1911 – 14 August 2004) was a Polish Americans, Polish-American poet, prose writer, translator, and diplomat. He primarily wrote his poetry in Polish language, Polish. Regarded as one of the great poets of the ...

, Polish writer and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

winner, once wrote in his memoirs about Borejsza: "The most international of Polish communists. ... He built from nothing, starting in 1945, his paper empire of books and press. ''Czytelnik'' and other publishing houses, newspapers, magazines; all was dependent on him – jobs, publications, wages. I was in his stable, we all were." * Maria Dąbrowska, Polish writer, wrote about him in her memoirs: "He created a large organization, an organization encompassing the publishing – newspapers-books and readers, created with an almost American flare. But the aim of this organization was a slow and deliberate

Sovietization Sovietization ( ) is the adoption of a political system based on the model of soviets (workers' councils) or the adoption of a way of life, mentality, and culture modeled after the Soviet Union. A notable wave of Sovietization (in the second me ...

and

Russification Russification (), Russianisation or Russianization, is a form of cultural assimilation in which non-Russians adopt Russian culture and Russian language either voluntarily or as a result of a deliberate state policy. Russification was at times ...

Polish culture The culture of Poland () is the product of its Geography of Poland, geography and distinct historical evolution, which is closely connected to History of Poland, an intricate thousand-year history. Poland has a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic ma ...

." * Jan Kott, Polish writer, wrote about him in his memoirs: "...simply known as the Boss. ... ''Czytelnik'' was a state within a state … especially for writers. "Jan Kott, ''Still Alive: An Autobiographical Essay'', Yale University Press, 1994,
Google Print, p.172-173
/ref> *

Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda ( ; ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto; 12 July 190423 September 1973) was a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature. Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old an ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an poet and Nobel Prize winner, also wrote in his memoirs about Borejsza: "Borejsza was a tireless down to earth man, who converted dreams into actions. ... Now the great Borejsza, a scrawny, dynamic Quixote, an admirer of

Sancho Panza Sancho Panza (; ) is a fictional character in the novel ''Don Quixote'' written by Spain, Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra in 1605. Sancho acts as squire to Don Quixote and provides comments throughout the novel, ...

like the other Quixote, sensitive and wise, builder and dreamer, is resting for the first time" – Pablo Neruda, "Pablo Neruda Memoirs" (Original Spanish Edition: ''Confieso que he vivido: memorias'', 1974), Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1977.

Biography

Works

Quotes

See also

Notes

Further reading