Hot Books in the Cold War : The CIA-Funded Secret Western Book Distribution Program Behind the Iron Curtain

Chapter 14. Letters from Poland, the Crucial Country

Chapter 14 Letters from Poland, the Crucial Country For a period of over 30 years, thousands of letters acknowledging receipt of books sent and requesting other books arrived at the New York Book Center, forwarded by the numerous sponsors involved in the book program in the U.S. and in Western Europe. The original letters are no longer available; they may have been shredded when the book program ended in 1991 or were perhaps shipped to Washington and stored away in some government agency warehouse. Yet, excerpts from the most interesting letters were carefully selected by the national editors and translated into English. A country-by-country selection from these excerpts provides the most authentic testimony and vivid evidence to the warm reception and deep impact of the book program, which was aimed at breaking through the ideological and cultural iron curtain cutting off East Central Europe from the rest of the world. The abundance of these translated excerpts has necessitated a selective approach and at times difficult choices in order to avoid repetitions and duplications. Despite some differences due to national characteristics , the letters also showed many similarities, indicating that the vast majority of book recipients in all countries under communist totalitarian rule suffered from the same restrictions and shared similar aspirations and desires. During the first three-and-half years of the book program, from July 1956 to December 1959, Poland received the largest number of books (194,400 out of some 669,000). It was the clear frontrunner in the number of responses received, with 10,900 letters out of a total of roughly 15,300 from all the target countries, as compared to 2,009 i5 Cold War.indb 309 2013.03.04. 13:37 310 Hot Books in the Cold War letters from Hungary and 1,142 letters from Czechoslovakia. This began to change drastically by the early 1960s.1 Of the 4,445 responses received in March and April 1963, 2,082 came from Poland, placing it first, with Hungary a close second and Czechoslovakia far behind. With regard to requests, Poland was a close second, behind Hungary with 1,222 out of 2,931 requests, and Czechoslovakia a distant third. In May 1963, Poland was back ahead of Hungary for both responses and requests. Two months later, Hungary was first for responses, Poland first for requests. In November, Hungary led for the first time in both categories, with 3,472 responses and 2,502 requests versus 3,054 responses and 2,031 requests from Poland. In December 1965, Poland led to Hungary in the number of books acknowledged (2,293), while Hungary was ahead of Poland in the number of books requested (1,495), with Czechoslovakia a close third in both categories. These fluctuations show that the book program had successfully begun to penetrate most of Eastern Europe, with Romania and Bulgaria being the most difficult to penetrate.2 Responses from Poland decreased in the second half of 1966, and mail received in January 1967 remained low, with only 852 letters. During 1966, a great many requests arrived in response to the mailing of a gift book order form offering a choice of three books from an enclosed list. However, few acknowledgements were received for books that were sent individually. In January and February, letters were sent to the individuals in question asking them whether they had received the books. About 60% of the respondents stated that they had received at least one (and some two or all three) of the books mailed to them. These results showed that censorship was active.3 During May and June 1967, slightly more letters of acknowledgement arrived from insti1   Free Europe Press, Mailing Operations, Monthly Report No. 41, December 1969, 1. Courtesy of John P. C. Matthews. The Summaries of Responses to Mailing Operations for the years 1956 to 1959 seldom contain direct quotes and merely refer to books acknowledged or requested. 2   March [1963] Highlights, dated April 8, 1963, 1, and April [1963] Highlights , dated May 6, 1963, 1. HIA, RFE/RL Corporate Records, Microfiche Provisional Box 3. If not otherwise indicated, all quotes come from this source. Minden changed twice his way of referencing the Highlights Reports. 3   Highlights Report January–February 1967, dated March 17, 1967, 1. i5 Cold War.indb 310 2013.03.04. 13:37 311 Letters from Poland, the Crucial Country tutions (855) than from individuals (715). During...