Catholic Responses to Poland’s “New Reality,” 1945–1953. The Case of Tygodnik Powszechny

• Published in: East European politics and societies Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 296 - 312
• Main Author: Manetti, Christina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications Ltd 01.05.2012; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Catholic Church; Catholics; Christian Theology and Religion; Church & state; Closure; Communism; Editorials; Federal Republic of Germany; Freedom; Government/Political systems; History of Communism; Krakow; Philosophy; Poland; Political Change; Political history; Politics and religion; Post-War period (1950 - 1989); Press; Reality; Religion & politics; Secularism; Socialism; Society; War; WW II and following years (1940 - 1949); Poland; Poland; Tygodnik Powszechny; communism; Catholics
• ISSN: 0888-3254; 1533-8371
• DOI: 10.1177/0888325411401378

During the years 1945–1953, the Kraków weekly Tygodnik Powszechny, approved by both Church and state, occupied a unique position. Its apolitical stance, inspired to a large extent by the Catholic philosophy of personalism, meant that within certain limits it enjoyed remarkable freedom. This article considers Tygodnik’s place in the early postwar Polish landscape, including its avowedly apolitical approach (dubbed “minimalism”) as it compared with that of other Catholic groups, how it dealt with increasing communist pressure, and what it managed to achieve before its closure. Among Tygodnik’s primary concerns were the defence of Polish society and culture against the war’s lingering psychological aftereffects, for example by encouraging discussions of what now would be called society’s “post-traumatic shock,” and reconciliation with the Germans. The newspaper also sought to defend Polish culture against communisation, in part by providing a forum for unconventional writers (who were at least nominally Catholic), resisting socialist realism and publishing information on nonsocialist-realist art and music, and addressing the changes being implemented by the communists in terms of secularisation. With mounting pressure, however, Tygodnik found it increasingly difficult to make acceptable compromises, until finally in 1953 its editorial board deemed it impossible to continue its coexistence with the communist regime. As a result, it was closed by authorities until a change in the political climate enabled Tygodnik to renew publication in 1956.