This month sees the 60th anniversary of Tygodnik Powszechny (The Universal Weekly), one of the few beacons of intellectual freedom during the communist era.
Founded by Cardinal Prince Adam Sapieha in Cracow in March 1945, the newspaper published articles by a host of distinguished writers, including Czeslaw Milosz, Father Jozef Tischner and Karol Wojtyla (later Pope John Paul II). Stanislaw Lem, now world famous for his science fiction novels such as 'Solaris', also made his debut in the weekly.
Protected by the Church, the newspaper managed to get away with a far greater degree of intellectual freedom than other publications. Censors tried to limit the publication to 40, 000 copies a week. However, the newspaper had clever ways of getting round the system - paper was sold by weight, so Tygodnik used extra light paper. The journal itself was widely circulated, and copies were shared within groups and societies.
Although it's heyday has passed, the paper is still a firm fixture in Polish intellectual life and it continues to attract writers of a high calibre.
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