The gossiper and the prophet. The figure and legacy of Wacław Alfred Zbyszewski in memories of selected participants of the Second Great Emigration

Abstract

Wacław Alfred Zbyszewski (1903 - 1985) began his literary career in 1923 as one of the youngest publicists in the Second Polish Republic. Following the outbreak of World War II, he found himself in exile in London, then in Germany, and at the end of his life in Paris. During almost fifty years of his activity as a collaborator of the most important Polish information and opinion-forming outlets: "Dziennik Polski", the weekly "Wiadomości", the monthly "Kultura"and the Polish Section of Radio Free Europe, he became one of the most interesting and popular journalists. This article is an attempt to answer the question of how such a long journalistic activity was evaluated by the most prominent figures of the Polish culture on emigration, including Zbyszewski’s superiors and editorial colleagues, and what was their attitude towards Wacław Zbyszewski himself. In order to do so, the article collects and discusses memoirs devoted to Wacław Zbyszewski and the activities of the institutions he was associated with during World War II and the Cold War. Among the authors of the source materials used in the article are Stefania Kossowska, Maria Danilewiczowa and Jerzy Giedroyc.