Jerzy Borejsza

 ( 1905 Births ) 

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.„Dziennik Polski”, vol VI, nr 91, Krakow, 1 April 1950, p. 2.

He joined the new pro-Soviet Polish communist party, the Polish Workers' Party, and became a deputy to the State National Council. 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. JERZY BOREJSZA in Muzeum Powstania WarszawskiegoAndrzej Paczkowski, Jane Cave, The spring will be ours: Poland and the Poles from occupation to freedom, Penn State Press, 2003, , Google Print, p.193Tomas Venclova, Aleksander Wat: life and art of an iconoclast, Yale University Press, 1996 , Google Print, p.193 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 Western world, and himself traveled to United States and the United Kingdom. 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. He was buried at the Powązki Cemetery in Warsaw.

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

• Czesław Miłosz, Polish writer and Nobel Prize 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."Czesław Miłosz and Madeline Levine, Milosz's ABC's, Macmillan, 2002, , Google Print, p.67
• 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 and Russification of Polish culture." As cited by Franaszek
• 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
• Pablo Neruda, 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 Don Quixote, an admirer of Sancho Panza 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.

• Culture in the Polish People's Republic

• E. Krasucki, Międzynarodowy komunista. Jerzy Borejsza – biografia polityczna, Warszawa 2009.
• J. Centkowski, Jerzy Borejsza (1905–1952), in: Materiały Pomocnicze do Historii Dziennikarstwa Polski Ludowej, J. Centkowski and A. Słomkowska (red.), z. 4, Warszawa 1974.
• B. Fijałkowska, Borejsza i Różański. Przyczynek do dziejów stalinizmu w Polsce, Olsztyn 1995.,
• Z. Gregorczyk, Działalność Jerzego Borejszy w okresie lubelskim, in: Prasa lubelska: tradycje i współczesność, J. Jarowiecki et al. (red.), Lublin 1986.
• K. Koźniewski, Rogatywki Jerzego Borejszy, in: Zostanie mit, Warszawa 1988
• E. Krasucki, Ujmując w dłoń skalpel materializmu. Wizja kultury socjalistycznej w publicystyce Jerzego Borejszy z "Lewara" i "Sygnałów" (1934–1939), in: Społeczeństwo – polityka – kultura. Studia nad dziejami prasy w II Rzeczypospolitej, T. Sikorski (red.), Szczecin 2006.