The fifth edition of the “Bolesławiec Yearbook,” an initiative of the Municipal Commune and the Ziemia Bolesławiecka Association, has been published. Reading the yearbook is not an easy task. It is a chronicle written according to historical standards. In a word, a rather dull summer read. You need to know the town and its people to read some of the articles in the “Yearbook...” as a fascinating social novel or “Wysokie Obcasy”.
I myself read the new publication with great pleasure. The “Yearbooks...” in all their editions are useful to me at work. When writing analyses and articles for Istotne.pl, knowledge of the history of the people, town, institutions and organizations is invaluable. I have also used it many times when preparing lectures for young people from municipal schools, during presentations for New Horizons of Film Education.
Although I approach the subject humorously, the reliability of the “Yearbook...” is certainly worthy of praise and respect in times when information is shortened and simplified. Its only drawback is the lack of an online version of the “Yearbook...”. Why do we need the “Yearbook...” online? So that every Bolesławiec student could copy excerpts from the periodical and use them in their assignments. In this way, the yearbook would become more popular, and its authors would contribute to someone getting a top grade for a presentation in the secondary-school leaving exam.
I found several articles in the fifth edition particularly enjoyable. I will begin with Danuta Maślicka’s text, “The Middle-Aged Intelligence Club in Bolesławiec in 1956–1957,” which I privately named “The Poetic Ecstasies of Doctors’ Wives.” The article itself stands out among the others. Maślicka managed to convey the atmosphere and significance of the extraordinary cultural activity of several friends from Bolesławiec.
In January 1956, the wives of doctors and engineers—Zofia Niewodniczańska, Józefa Łakomska and Zofia Michalska—organized a poetry gathering at home, featuring poems by Staff, Tuwim, Wierzyński and Załucki. This was how the activity of the extraordinary Middle-Aged Intelligence Club began. At their meetings, the friends discussed art, theatre and film, recited poetry and kept a chronicle through which we learned about their initiative.
The club had its successes—it appeared on Wrocław’s “Studio 202”—as well as its failures: after the media attention, attempts were made to “nationalize” it, until eventually the authorities most likely suggested that the meetings be discontinued. The last entries in the club’s chronicle date from April 1957. It is a substantial piece of the history of a small town during the thaw following Stalin’s death. A well-described and extraordinarily interesting story.
In my view, the proposal described in another article to rebuild a footbridge for pedestrians by the viaduct is a brilliant idea. In her “Analysis of the Possibilities for the Historical Reconstruction of a Footbridge for Pedestrians across the Bóbr River in Bolesławiec,” Kinga Pokojowy considers the need to build the footbridge as a tourist attraction and proposes architectural and structural solutions.
In the “Yearbook...” we also find a beautiful farewell to Henryk Baranowski, who died shortly after the publication was released. The film, theatre and opera director, actor, poet and philosopher died of cancer at the age of 70. He was connected with Bolesławiec and lived here toward the end of the 1950s. He took his secondary-school leaving examination at a Bolesławiec high school. Zygmunt Brusiło presented his biography. It is worth reading for many reasons. It is written from the heart and in an engaging way, showing the colorful life of an outstanding artist while also constituting a fragment of our local history. It reminds us that we did not appear out of nowhere in the lands called the Recovered Territories by the Communists after the war. Everyone arrived here with their own history and brought it into our shared local life. Our history is like a painted bird—we took its colors from different cultures, places around the world and customs. Among us there have been and still are great people who call Bolesławiec and its surroundings home.
I also enjoyed reading Anetta Karolina Kamińska’s article, “From a Barn to the Presidential Palace,” about a harvest festival wreath from Kraśnik Dolny that won the Polish president’s award last year.
Three interviews with Bolesławiec artists were also important to me: Magdalena Olga Konieczna, Joanna Mysłek-Michnowska and Katarzyna Sas. I would call them modest, extraordinary and talented guardians of art. Artists who teach children and young people and simply acknowledge that they also learn from their pupils how to look at the world and creativity. Educators who respect children in this way should be both cherished and supported.
Finally, a gem and a therapeutic text for BOK-MCC employees. Franciszek Uściński, director of BOK from 1980 to 1990, talks about the institution’s cultural offerings during that period. The director remembers most negatively “the demands of the municipal and party authorities that BOK be constantly ready to provide services (venue, decorations, sound system, artistic program…).” He also regrets that, despite the rich cultural offering, excellent concerts and events, no one ever appreciated the work of the “wonderful, dedicated people”—all the employees of the center. In short, nothing is changing in this respect, and probably never will. Tradition is a powerful force.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)