Tymon Terlecki – a political profile

Based in London from 1940, Tymon Terlecki (1905–2000) is seen as the architect or codifier of the Polish émigré ethos, and his writings were duly banned in communist Poland. „Emigracja” for Terlecki was essentially an act of faith, rebellious and aspiring to a dizerent reality. Its duty was to engage in the struggle for Poland’s political and cultural independence, and a literature unshackled by Marxist ideology. He also stressed the need to work together with the oppressed nations of central and East Europe, to ensure the integration of central-east Europe with Europe and its Christian heritage. Terlecki had formulated the main points of his political „brief ” before the rst issue of „Kultura” appeared in Rome in 1947. Highlighting the relevance of Adam Mickiewicz’s political journalism to the post-1945 situation, Terlecki was critical of émigré government-in-exile, and what he perceived as their delusional notions, lack of political acumen, and failure to invest in culture. Not wishing to be a passive observer, he joined the new émigré Polish Freedom Movement „Niepodległość i Demokracja” („Independence and Democracy”). Neither doctrinaire nor dogmatic, capitalist nor Marxist, their „Karta Wolnego Polaka” or „Little Grey Book”, sets out basic principles for a democratic post-war Poland. Following the Thaw, Terlecki distanced himself from émigré politics, which he felt had degenerated into ambition-driven politicizing. Collected and published posthumously as Emigracja naszego czasu (Lublin, 2003), his political essays amount to some 40 in all, a small fraction of his literary output