https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9610-7838
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ABSTRACT
This study explores the international cultural relationship between the Netherlands and the Republic of Poland during a period of growing political tensions between the Western world and the Eastern Bloc. Seemingly, both countries did not have any significant cultural ties during this period. However, various archival documents indicate that such ties existed, providing new insights into the history, scale and nature of bilateral artistic and cultural relations between the countries that developed during the early Cold War reality of a divided world – in some cases in spite of political tensions, but frequently also for their sake of political rivalry.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 ‘Volkskunst uit Polen’, De Tijd, 10 March 1949, 3. All translations from Dutch, French and Polish are the author’s own.
2 Numerous theoretical notions have been applied to studies on cultural relations in times of Cold War, ranging from public and cultural diplomacy to soft and smart power. They are, however, often used vaguely and interchangeably, and their proper definition and application are not always evident – see Melissa Nisbett, ‘Who Holds the Power in Soft Power?’, Arts & International Affairs 1, no. 1 (2016): 110–48; Martina Topić and Cassandra Sciortino, ‘Cultural Diplomacy and Cultural Imperialism: A Framework for the Analysis’, in Cultural Diplomacy or Cultural Imperialism, ed. Martina Topić and Siniša Rodin (Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2012), 9–48 for an outline of relevant terms and approaches.
3 Cf. Norman Naimark, ‘The Sovietisation of Eastern Europe, 1944–1953’, in The Cambridge History of the Cold War,vol. 1, Origins, ed. Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 175–97 for an outline of the process of the sovietisation of Eastern Europe.
4 Cf. Walter Hixson, Parting the Curtain: Propaganda, Culture, and the Cold War (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997); Francis Stonor Saunders, The Cultural Cold War (New York: The New Press, 1999); David Caute, The Dancer Defects: Struggle for Cultural Supremacy during the Cold War (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003); Yale Richmond, Cultural Exchange and the Cold War: Raising the Iron Curtain (University Park: Penn State University Press, 2003); Gilles Scott-Smith and Hans Krabbendam, The Cultural Cold War in Western Europe 1945–1960 (London: Frank Cass, 2003); Greg Barnihsel, Cold War Modernists: Art, Literature, and American Cultural Diplomacy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2015).
5 Cf. Patryk Babiracki, Soviet Soft Power in Poland: Culture and the Making of Stalin’s New Empire, 1943–1957 (Chapel Hill: North Carolina University Press, 2015). The concept of soft power was coined and popularised by Joseph Nye – cf. Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power (New York: Basic Books, 1990).
6 Oscar Martín García and Rósa Magnúsdóttir, eds., Machineries of Persuasion: European Soft Power and Public Diplomacy during the Cold War (Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2019), 1–5. Other studies that go beyond the binary superpower opposition include the following: Antoine Fleury and Lubor Jílek, eds., Une Europe malgré tout, 1945–1990: Contacts et réseaux culturels, intellectuels et scientifiques entre Européens dans la guerre (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2009); Peter Romijn, Giles Scott-Smith and Joes Segal, eds., Divided Dreamworlds? The Cultural Cold War in East and West (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2012); Kim Christiaens, Frank Gerits, Idesbald Goddeeris and Gilles Scott-Smith, ‘The Low Countries and Eastern Europe during the Cold War: Introduction’, Dutch Crossing 39, no. 3 (2015): 221–31; Simo Mikkonen, Gilles Scott-Smith and Jari Parkkinen, eds., Entangled East and West: Cultural Diplomacy and Artistic Interaction during the Cold War (Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2019).
7 For instance, quite intense trading relationships were developed between both countries during the Hanseatic League; in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, religious persecution drove the Dutch Mennonites to seek refuge in Poland, and today Poles are the largest migrant group living in the Netherlands.
8 For example, Peter Krug, ‘Culturele en economische betrekkingen tussen Nederland en Polen door de eeuwen heen’, Ons Erfdeel 23 (1981): 495–508; Lucia Thijssen, 1000 jaar Polen en Nederland (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1992); Duco Hellema, ‘The Cold War Years 1945–1975’, in Poland and the Netherlands: a Case Study of European Relations, ed. Duco Hellema, Ryszard Żelichowski and Bert van der Zwan (Dordrecht: Republic of Letters, 2011), 123–40; Anna Sikora-Sabat, Teksty kultury niderlandzkiej w Polsce (1945–1989) (Poznań: WA UAM, 2013); Ryszard Żelichowski, Stosunki polsko-holenderskie w Europie pojałtańskiej (Warsaw: ISP PAN, 2014).
9 The source materials have been gathered in the following archives: Archiwum Ministerstwa Spraw Zagranicznych in Warsaw: Departament Prasy i Informacji (PL_AMSZ_DPI) and Departament II (PL_AMSZ_D II); Archiwum Akt Nowych in Warsaw: Ministerstwo Kultury i Sztuki: Biuro Współpracy z Zagranicą (PL_AAN_MKS); Nationaal Archief in The Hague: Ministerie van Onderwijs, Kunsten en Wetenschappen: unit 08: Afdeling Kunsten en taakvoorgangers 1945–65 (NL_NA_MOKW); Stadsarchief Amsterdam in Amsterdam: unit 30041: Archief van het Stedelijk Museum (NL_SA_SM), as well as in Het nationaal veiligheidsarchief – Stichting Argus in Utrecht (NL_NVA–SA). I would like to thank Dorota Pawlicka for her help in the collection of relevant archival materials.
10 Existing analyses devoted to the mechanisms of communist public diplomacy at the outset of the Cold War are scarce. See, for instance: Nigel Gould-Davies, ‘The Logic of Soviet Cultural Diplomacy’, Diplomatic History 27, no. 2 (2003): 193–214; Greg Castillo, Cold War on the Home Front: The Soft Power of Midcentury Design (Minneapolis: Minnesota University Press, 2010) and Cadra Peterson McDaniel, American–Soviet Cultural Diplomacy: The Bolshoi Ballet’s American Premiere (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014).
11 Wiesława Eder, ‘Polonia w Holandii po II wojnie światowej’, Przegląd Zachodni 1 (1988): 157–8. For an in-depth analysis of the history of Polish veterans in the Netherlands, see Iwona Guść, ‘Maczkowcy w krainie tulipanów: O polskich weteranach w Holandii i o konflikcie pamięci’, Neerlandica Wratislaviensia 25 (2015): 39–55 and Hanneke Verbeek, ‘Poolse bevrijders in dienst van het vaderland’, in Honderd jaar heimwee, ed. Wim Willens and Hanneke Verbeek (Amsterdam: Boom, 2012), 104–35.
12 Polish associations operating in the Netherlands included: ‘Związek Polaków w Holandii’ [The Union of Poles in the Netherlands], ‘Stowarzyszenie Polskie’ [The Polish Association], ‘Polskie Towarzystwo Katolickie’ [Polish Catholic Association] and ‘Pools Huis/Ognisko Polskie’ [Polish House], as well as a short-lived biweekly, Polak w Holandii [A Pole in the Netherlands] – cf. Eder, ‘Polonia w Holandii’, 160–2 and inv. nr. OD 1500, NL_NVA–SA.
13 Van Praag published on the subject and translated several Polish books into Dutch. However, he was not a particularly influential figure in the Netherlands: he was supposedly not regarded with much esteem and was seen as a blabbermouth and ignorant. Cf. inv. nr. 8–61–686, p. 9, PL_AMSZ_D II.
14 These initiatives were indirectly supported by the Polish envoy, who, for instance, supplied the Association with materials necessary for its publications – cf. Górzyński’s letter to the Ministry of Information and Propaganda from 15 September 1946 (inv. nr. 21–625–43, PL_AMSZ_DPI).
15 Elmer’s letter to the MFA from 11 February 1947 (inv. nr. 21–625–43, PL_AMSZ_DPI).
16 Samuel Marek (Milo) Anstadt was a Polish-born Dutch-Jewish leftist journalist, author of several books on Poland, for example, Polen – land, volk, cultuur (1964), Kind in Polen (1982) and Polen en Joden (1989).
17 Here it must be noted, however, that other Dutch newspapers remained rather critical about the situation in Poland and regularly described the issues of antisemitism, religious persecutions or civil rights violations that took place there. (cf. inv. nrs. 21–610–42, 21–611–42, 21–615–43, PL_AMSZ_DPI).
18 For more information on De Derde Weg and De Vrije Katheder see: Fenna van den Burg, ‘De koude oorlog en de minderheid’, De Gids 147, no. 1/2 (1984): 55–70.
19 Żelichowski, Stosunki polsko-holenderskie, 278–9.
20 Letter from secret service agent L–2 (Inlichtingendienst Amsterdam) to Head of CVD (Centrale Veiligheidsdienst) from 29 May 1947 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
21 Undated note nr. 64482 [from 1949] (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
22 When necessary I use the gender-neutral term Netherlanders instead of Dutchmen.
23 Note nr 823–18/50 by secret service agent F2 from 5 June 1950 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA); cf. https://www.troonredes.nl/troonrede–23–juli–1946 (accessed March 24, 2021).
24 Cf. Żelichowski, Stosunki polsko-holenderskie, 275–95.
25 Apart from Nederland-Polen, other similar associations were also kept under surveillance, such as Nederland-U.S.S.R., Nederland-Tsjecho Slowakije or Nederland-Indonesië, as well as other communist initiatives in the Netherlands – cf. NL_NVA–SA. However, it is likely the case that the Dutch secret services did not regard these associations as a serious security threat, but, nonetheless, kept a watchful eye on them.
26 Fock’s letter to Einthoven from 5 March 1947 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
27 Czerniecki’s letter to the MFA from 16 December 1946 (inv. nr. 21–604–42, PL_AMSZ_DPI).
28 There had been local exhibitions organised earlier in the Netherlands, yet they were not officially supported by the Polish state. For instance, the Bulgarian-Polish painter Christo Stefanoff, who lived in Breda between 1945 and 1952, had multiple exhibitions in various Dutch cities in 1947–50. Stefanoff painted, among others, The Triptych of Breda that commemorates the Polish liberation of the town, as well as a portrait of Queen Wilhelmina. In 1948, works by Stefan Mrożewski were also exhibited in Rotterdam, and Polish photography was on display in Amsterdam.
29 Vuyk claimed, for instance, that she had been asked to write a series of articles and a booklet on Polish art to be printed in The Netherlands, as well as to translate Dutch texts on art into Polish and give a series of lectures on Dutch art in various museums in Poland. She also planned to issue a multilingual publication on Veit Stoss’s altarpiece in Krakow. Cf. Vuyk’s letters to Vroom from 28 August 1947 and to Van der Hagen from 16 July 1948 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW), as well as to the MCA from 13 November 1948 (inv. nr. 122, pp. 176–7, PL_AAN_MKS).
30 The first in Western Europe to be precise, since the exhibition had already been held in Prague in May–June 1947. Cf. Hefting’s letter Vuyk from 16 August 1947 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW).
31 Letters between the Dutch MEFAS and the Polish General Consulate in Amsterdam from 20 August 1947 and 26 August 1947 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW).
32 Starzyński’s letter to Vuyk from 14 October 1947. Earlier correspondence with the consul-general Gustowski also indicates that they had already considered organising an exhibition of Polish graphic art in Amsterdam, for instance, that of Stefan Mrożewski (inv. nr. 122, pp. 19–20, 27, PL_AAN_MKS).
33 ‘Poolse grafici in Gemeentemuseum’, De Nederlander, 23 July 1948, 3.
34 Vuyk’s letter to Vroom from 15 May 1498 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW).
35 Flaes’s letter to the MFA from 17 July 1948 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW). Vuyk, on the other hand, repeatedly claimed not to have any affinity for communism.
36 Letter from the MEFAS to the MFA from 15 June 1948 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW). This letter contains an interesting hand-written note, probably by H.J. Reinink, who was one of the most active supporters of Dutch cultural relationships with the Eastern Bloc, with the following – somewhat sarcastic – question: ‘Are we to suspend all cultural exchange with Poland and so forth?’.
37 Letters from the MFA to the MEFAS from 2 August 1948 and from Flaes to the MFA from 17 July 1948 (inv. nr. 273, NL_NA_MOKW).
38 Notably, at the occasion of French painting exhibitions in Poland, works by Vincent van Gogh (or their copies) were also often on display, for instance in 1947, 1949 and 1950.
39 Cf. Gould-Davies, ‘The Logic’, 212.
40 Cf. Hellema, ‘The Cold War Years’, 126.
41 Cf. Gould-Davies, ‘The Logic’, 210–12; and Castillo, Cold War, xxii.
42 Adam Koseski and Andrzej Stawarz, eds., Polska dyplomacja kulturalna po roku 1918 (Warsaw: Muzeum Niepodległości, 2006), 117–18.
43 Cf. Peter Polak-Springer, Recovered Territory: A German-Polish Conflict Over Land and Culture 1919–1989 (New York: Berghahn Books, 2015).
44 Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, ‘Modernism between Peace and Freedom: Picasso and Others at the Congress of Intellectuals in Wrocław’, in Cold War Modern, ed. David Crowley and Jane Pavitt (London: V&A Publishing, 2008), 36.
45 ‘Rood congres voor vrede predikt in wezen haat’, Trouw, 27 August 1948, 3.
46 Letter from secret service agent J/Q–4 to Head of CVD, BM (Mayor of Amsterdam) and HC (Amsterdam Police Chief) from 25 September 1948 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA)
47 Cf. Braat’s article for Kroniek van Kunst en Kultuur in: inv. nr. 265, PL_AAN_MKS.
48 I was unable to find any documents that would support this claim. Moreover, it would not have been possible, for instance, to hold the Exhibition of Modern Art in Krakow in 1948–9 or to re-open Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, with its famous Neoplastic Room, in 1948, should that have depended on the art taste of the working masses. Interestingly, in 1960, the communist authorities issued new regulations regarding public exhibitions of art in Poland which reduced the number of abstract works to 15% (cf. Piotr Piotrowski, Znaczenia modernizmu [Poznań: Rebis, 2011], 72).
49 ‘Zagadnienie demokratyzacji kultury’, Rada Narodowa, 11 July 1944, 7–8.
50 Barbara Wojciechowska et al., Polskie życie artystyczne w latach 1944–1960. Tom 2 (Warsaw: IS PAN, 2012), 19–22, 189–91, 257–9.
51 Sandberg’s letter to Lorentz from 27 October 1948 (inv. nr. 3358, NL_SA_SM).
52 Pruszyński’s letter to Starszyński from 2 February 1949 (inv. nr. 265, pp. 157–8, PL_AAN_MKS). Pruszyński also made use of the occasion and introduced Wanda Telakowska, head of the Polish Biuro Nadzoru Estetyki Produkcji (Office for the Supervision of Production Aesthetics), to Sandberg, hoping to strengthen the ties between both institutions, see: Pruszyński’s letter to Sandberg from 15 December 1948 (inv. nr. 3358, NL_SA_SM).
53 The Dutch stance on the issue of the ‘Recovered Territories’ and the Oder-Neisse borderline was in fact not evident. According to Hellema, by recognising the Polish provisional communist government in March 1945, the Netherlands actually tacitly accepted the new borders of Poland. There was, on the other hand, no question of official recognition of the Oder-Neisse Line, since it would simultaneously imply the recognition of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany, or GDR). Moreover, the Dutch press commented on the issue in a twofold manner – some newspapers actually referred to it as ‘annexation’ (for example, Trouw, 13 January 1949). In the late 1950s/early 1960s the Oder-Neisse Line regained attention in relation to the second Berlin crisis. At that time, the Netherlands was also involved in the West New Guinea Dispute and, as suggested by the Dutch ambassador to Poland, the issue of border recognition could actually have been used as leverage against the Polish support for the Indonesian claims (Hellema, ‘The Cold War Years’, 125–6).
54 Pruszyński’s letters to Starszyński from 2 February 1949 and to Jackowski from 21 February 1949 (inv. nr. 265, pp. 105–107, 157–8, PL_AAN_MKS).
55 Gabriel Smit, ‘Ontroerende expositie van Poolse kunst’, De Volkskrant, 13 July 1949, 5; M., ‘Poolse religieuze volkskunst. Opmerkelijke tentoonstelling in Amsterdam’, De Tijd, 28 May 1949, 3.
56 ‘Begenadigde kunstenaars bij ’t eenvoudige landvolk. Poolse expositie te Amsterdam’, Limburgsch Dagblad, 2 June 1949, 3.
57 Piwocki’s letter to the DIC from 26 May 1949 (inv. nr. 265, pp. 4043, PL_AAN_MKS).
58 Cf. Max Arian, Zoeken & scheuren: de jonge Sandberg (Huizen: Johannes van Kessel, 2010), 43; Peter Rorink, ‘Sandberg, tussen Stedelijk en Stadhuis’, Kunst en beleid in Nederland 4 (1990): 130.
59 At the occasion of the exhibition, Piwocki also delivered talks on Polish architecture and monuments. Most notably, he did not ignore modern architecture which, as he claimed, interested the Dutch public much more than the war damage. In May 1949 he repeatedly wrote to Warsaw asking for materials on modern Polish architecture and suggested, for instance, that the DIC contact Helena Syrkus, who belonged to the most prominent and progressive architects, and at that time was the vice-president of the CIAM organisation. Piwocki’s letters to the DIC from 12 May 1949 and 16 May 1949 (inv. nr. 265, pp. 82–3, 85–6, PL_AAN_MKS).
60 Izaly Zemtsovsky and Alma Kunanbaeva, ‘Communism and Folklore’, in Folklore and Traditional Music in the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, ed. James Porter (Los Angeles: UCLA, 1997), 4. Gorky presented his views on folklore in his paper ‘Soviet Literature’ delivered at the Soviet Writers Congress in 1934.
61 Cf. Joanna Kordjak, Poland – a Country of Folklore? (Warsaw: Zachęta, 2016) for a more detailed account on the use of folklore by the communist authorities.
62 It must be noted, however, that the overuse of folklore and the self-folklorisation visible in many posters and leaflets aimed at international tourists led to a certain ‘primitivisation’ of the image of Poland. The Polish envoy Wacław Babiński put it scornfully: ‘Not rarely the exaggerated emphasis put on folklore […] gives an impression that Poland is as primitive as the distinctive Caucasian or Afghan tribes’ (quoted in Żelichowski, Stosunki polsko-holenderskie, 341). It also shows how dubious Polish international cultural policy was at that time.
63 ‘Wielki sukces wystawy polskiej sztuki ludowej w Holandii’, Trybuna Robotnicza, 20 June 1949, 3.
64 This hybrid event, co-organised by Nederland-Polen, was promoted as an exhibition, but the objects on display (ceramics, wood carvings, dolls, hand-made clothes, wooden necklaces and so on) were actually for sale. Its honorary committee included high-ranking individuals and politicians, including representatives of the MEFAS (Reinink and Vroom), the mayor of Amsterdam (Arnold d’Ailly) and Sandberg.
65 ‘Burmistrz na Poziomie’, Przekrój 211 (1949): 11.
66 Note nr 85162 from 25 May 1950 by secret service agent E–3 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA). Sport was actually one of the most popular means of propaganda of the Polish communist regime. As voiced by First Secretary Edward Babiuch, ‘individual and team achievements […] give evidence of physical and moral health of the whole society, documenting the evolution in this matter in Poland, and very effectively propagating the policy that has led to this evolution. This is why we believe that Polish sporting achievements are one of the major forms of demonstrating the rules of social policy of a socialist state, and of its great results in this matter’ – Babiuch’s speech from 7 July 1976, quoted in Jakub Ferenc, Sport w służbie polityki (Warsaw: TRIO, 2008), 67.
67 Note nr. 1537–’50 from 7 July 1950 by secret service agent E–3 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
68 Note from B.St. to HB (Head of Department B) from 9 May 1950 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
69 Note from S.T. to BVD (Binnenlandse Veiligheidsdienst) from 31 May 1950 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
70 Report from BSV to HB from 11 July 1950 (inv. nr. OD 618, NL_NVA–SA).
71 Note nr. 1537–’50.
72 Lia Terlingen, ‘Kindertekeningen zeggen de (treurige) waarheid: “Als ik speel, werkt mijn vader”, maar . . . mijn moeder is dan evenmin thuis’, De Volkskrant, 10 May 1950, 5.
73 Ibid.
74 A response to this piece was published in De Waarheid on 13 May 1950.
75 Maklakiewicz’s letter to the DIC from 4 December 1947 and Nicolas van Gilse van der Pals’s letter from 19 March 1949 (inv. nr. 122, pp. 35, 154, PL_AAN_MKS).
76 Hesse-Bukowska was presented as the winner of the Chopin Competition in 1949, while in fact she had received the runner-up prize, which dismayed the Dutch journalist Hans Leerink (‘Poolse pianist speelt Chopin: En maakte misleidende propaganda’, De Telegraaf, 23 December 1949).
77 Even though music could serve as a diplomatic tool (see for instance Danielle Fosler-Lussier, Music in America’s Cold War Diplomacy [Oakland: California University Press, 2015]; Tomoff Kirill, Virtuosi Abroad: Soviet Music and Imperial Competition during the Early Cold War, 1945–1958 [Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2015]), it was also easier to stay politically neutral in the case of the events in question.
78 For instance, in 1946 the Polish Legation at The Hague offered to have Polish books displayed in the vitrines of two big Dutch publishing houses, which could have some propagandist impact on the Dutch buyers. The Dutch Legation in Warsaw, on the other hand, wrote to the DIC asking for contact details of any association of Polish publishers, in order to facilitate Polish-Dutch literary exchange. As it happened, the Związek Zawodowy Literatów Polskich (Trade Union of Polish Writers) also attempted to build a network of translators and publishers in the Netherlands (cf. inv. nr. 21–604–42, PL_AMSZ_DPI and inv. nr. 122, p. 1, PL_AAN_MKS).
79 For a detailed bibliography, see Ronald Pieters et al., ‘Poolse literatuur in Nederlandse vertaling’, Slavica Gandensia 4 (1977): 51–92.
80 See Iana Popa, Traduire sous contraintes: Littérature et communisme (1947–1989) (Paris: CNRS Éditions, 2010) for a detailed analysis of the mechanisms of literary translations in times of Cold War.
81 Becker’s letter to Gustowski from 1 February 1948 (inv. nr. 122, p. 80, PL_AAN_MKS).
82 Gustowski’s letter to the DIC from 5 February 1948 (inv. nr. 122, pp. 82–3, PL_AAN_MKS).
83 See Jeroen van Dongen, ed., Cold War Science and the Transatlantic Circulation of Knowledge (Leiden: Brill, 2015) for a detailed analysis of Cold War scholarly and scientific mobility and exchange.
84 Czerniecki’s letter to Department of Press and Information from 10 June 1947 (inv. nr. 21–611–42, pp. 182–5, PL_AMSZ_DPI). Based on this report, one can conclude that the assumed effects of this initiative were achieved and resulted in a series of rather positive (or at the very least, neutral) articles in the Dutch press devoted to Poland.
85 Cf. Ewa Banach and Andrzej Banach, Odkrycie Amsterdamu (Krakow: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1975), 29–45 for a personal account on Sandberg’s involvement and attitude towards the cultural contacts with Poland. For a more general outline of Sandberg’s cultural diplomatic activities see Claartje Wesselink, ‘De reizende jonkheer. Museumdirecteur Willem Sandberg als cultureel diplomaat’, Virtus 22 (2015): 171–88.
86 Unsurprisingly, during the numerous official activities planned by the Polish authorities, the Dutchmen were constantly fed communist propaganda: they were, for instance, familiarised with ‘collective work methods’ or with ‘rules of socialist realism in Polish art’, and meetings with ‘model workers’ were also organised. Cf. trip report from 28 September 1950 (inv. nr. 125, pp. 48–51, PL_AAN_MKS).
87 Slotemaker de Bruine’s letter to MFA from 10 November 1950 (inv. nr. OD 1778, NL_NVA–SA).
88 Letters between Posthumus and Sandberg from 11 September 1950 and 8 October 1950; Sandberg’s letter to Janczewski from 12 January 1950 (inv. nr. 863, NL_SA_SM).
89 Cf. Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis: Archief SDAP.
90 Kirsten Bound et al., Cultural Democracy (London: Demos, 2007), 52.
91 This phenomenon is nothing new and has been observed since antiquity, cf. Andrzej Dudziński, ‘Dionizjusz I i Ateńczycy. Ludzie kultury w służbie dyplomacji’, in Człowiek w świecie antycznym, ed. Sławomir Sprawski (Krakow: Historia Iagellonica, 2012), 57–73.
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Michał Wenderski
Michał Wenderski, Ph.D. - assistant professor at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. His research is devoted to cultural mobility between Poland and the Low Countries in the fields of literature, fine arts and architecture. Currently head of a research project devoted to Cold War cultural relationships between Poland and the Netherlands.