Aleksander Sielicki, president of the Union of Polish Organisations “Jedność” since 2018, told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) the publications serve two audiences.
“For more than thirty years our magazines have not only helped preserve Polish identity, language and traditions, but also brought Poland closer to Russian readers, shaping interest in its culture and history,” said Sielicki, who also edits the magazine “Wiadomości Polskie”.
He was speaking at the ninth World Forum of Polish Diaspora Media, which ended on Sunday and drew many journalists from Poland’s eastern neighbours, including Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and Russia.
Many of the titles, which first appeared in Russian regions in the early 1990s, are bilingual, reaching both people of Polish descent and Russians interested in Poland, he said. They include “Gazeta Petersburska” and “Głos znad Pregoły” in Kaliningrad.
Sielicki said stories of Poles who lived in what is now Russia, among them teachers, doctors, engineers and clergy, help readers find Polish traces in the history of their own cities.
“In many circles of the Russian intelligentsia there is genuine sympathy for Polish culture”, he said.
He said work with historians from Poland and Russia allows the magazines to present a Polish view of history, which is sometimes interpreted differently, “without excessive simplification”. He acknowledged that their influence is hard to measure but said they foster positive associations with Poland.
Sielicki credited the Polish embassy in Moscow with supporting cultural and educational projects, and praised a University of Warsaw digital library that makes the magazines available to researchers.
(jh)
Source: PAP