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Polska 1944/45-1989 : studia i materiały 11 (2013)
Creator: Contributor:
Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Publisher: Place of publishing: Date issued/created: Description: Type of object: Subject and Keywords:Polish Radio - 1945-1970 ; Poland - politics and governments - 1945-1956 - public opinion ; Katyn massacre (Katyn, Russia ; 1940) - public opinion, Polish
Abstract:From 1949 onward, the communist authorities in Poland decided to incorporate, on a broader scale, the Polish Radio into the propaganda campaign by launching the second programme of the radio and inaugurating a modern broadcasting transmitter and station at Raszyn. Furthermore, Poland and the Soviet Union signed an agreement on the exchange of audio materials. The responsibility for the radio propaganda rested on the officers of the First Army of the Polish People’s Army, who gained experiences from practice in the Soviet radio. The most recognisable propaganda initiative of the Polish Radio was undoubtedly a new radio broadcast called Fala 49 (Wave ’49), based on the idea of Witold Grosz. The Fala 49 broadcast was a kind of safety valve. The reporters of the broadcast (the most infamous were Wanda Odolska and Stefan Martyka), acting on the guidelines of the Party’s leaders and Radio managers, were bringing up touchy subjects, bothering the people. According to the broadcast authors’ intention, the radio audience could send to the station letters in which they asked difficult question, criticised the authorities, instructed the government or asked about solutions of their problems. Then, from time to time, Fala 49 answered the questions or commented the correspondence. It was broadcasted at various times of a day and was introduced by a characteristic trailer: ‘This is Fala 49. This is Fala 49. We are on.’ But the broadcast as such was rather meaningless.On the basis of the letters sent to Fala 49 a group of confidential and selected people compiled a special rationed Bulletin (with a warning ‘Top Secret’ printed over). Initially, it was 21 copies for the direct leadership of the Polish United Workers’ Party and Polish Radio. Later on, the number of copies was increased to a few dozens. They were distributed among editorial offices of selected periodicals, trade unions, selected deputies of the Polish Sejm and also to the General Headquarters of the Citizen Militia, the head Office of the Women’s League, the Union of Polish Writers and the Supreme Audit Office. By the end of the 1950s the Bulletin reached a number of 106 copies.In theory, Bulletins dealt with various subjects, although dominated by social matters, such as shortages in shops, problems with transportations, housing shortages, education of children and young people, alcoholism, abusing connections for the purpose of private matters. Not less important were political affairs. The most notable were: the arrest of the Polish Primate Stefan Wyszyński and Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek, the problem of June and October of 1956, dissolution of the Po Prostu editorial board in 1957 and the events of March 1968 and December of 1970 in the Gdańsk area. Much attention was also paid to the fate of Poles in the Soviet Union after 1939. The radio listeners, who were looking for their missing friends and relatives, made yet another attempt (after efforts to find them through the Polish Red Cross) with the Polish Radio. The Bulletins of Fala 49 and Fala 56 include a dozen or so letters on the subject (together with those pertaining to the Katyń Massacre). Some of the letters were signed with the real name of their authors, who pointed out that the responsibility for the massacre rests on the Soviets. They demanded that the problem be made public and indicated the need to commemorate the murdered. The letters to Fala 49 and Fala 56 are an important source of information for research into the moods of Polish people in 1949–1956.
Relation:Polska 1944/45-1989 : studia i materiały
Volume: Start page: End page: Resource type: Detailed Resource Type: Format: Resource Identifier: Source:IH PAN, sygn. B.155/11 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. B.156/11 ; click here to follow the link
Language: Language of abstract: Rights:Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license
Terms of use:Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -
Digitizing institution:Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Original in:Library of the Institute of History PAS
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