THE PROJECT OF RECONCILIATION: JOURNALISTS AND RELIGIOUS ACTIVISTS IN POLISH-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1956-1972 Annika Frieberg A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History. Chapel Hill 2008 Approved by: Dr. Konrad H. Jarausch Dr. Christopher Browning Dr. Chad Bryant Dr. Karen Hagemann Dr. Madeline Levine ©2008 Annika Frieberg ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT ANNIKA FRIEBERG: The Project of Reconciliation: Journalists and Religious Activists in Polish-German Relations, 1956-1972 (under the direction of Konrad Jarausch) My dissertation, “The Project of Reconciliation,” analyzes the impact of a transnational network of journalists, intellectuals, and publishers on the postwar process of reconciliation between Germans and Poles. In their foreign relations work, these non-state actors preceded the Polish-West German political relations that were established in 1970. The dissertation has a twofold focus on private contacts between these activists, and on public discourse through radio, television and print media, primarily its effects on political and social change between the peoples. My sources include the activists’ private correspondences, interviews, and memoirs as well as radio and television manuscripts, articles and business correspondences. Earlier research on Polish-German relations is generally situated firmly in a nation-state framework in which the West German, East German or Polish context takes precedent. My work utilizes international relations theory and comparative reconciliation research to explore the long-term and short-term consequences of the discourse and the concrete measures which were taken during the 1960s to end official deadlock and nationalist antagonisms and to overcome the destructive memories of the Second World War dividing Poles and Germans. Analyzing early Polish-German relations within the conceptual framework of reconciliation after violent conflict, I distinguish between those developments that fitted within reconciliation models and the political narrative which the actors developed and disseminated to explain and justify their iii position on Polish-German relations. The positive aspects included the cross-border contacts established and the challenge to national stereotypes and myths. On the other hand, a statist focus on improving the relations with the communist government in Poland rather than the people, and a limitation of the dialogue to intellectual and media elites and political circles meant that in 1970, and in 1990, when reconciliation was declared accomplished, many layers of society remained excluded and isolated from this master narrative of success. My research strives to emphasize the silences, and give voice to the marginalized minorities and to emphasize that media, intellectuals and politicians continually face the task of integrating these forgotten aspects into any grand narratives of reconciliation. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a great debt to many individuals and institutions, who helped me conceive of, research and write this dissertation. I accomplished my research with generous financial assistance from the Institut für Europäische Geschichte in Mainz and from the German Academic Exchange Service between November 2004 and December 2006. An earlier summer grant from the International Studies Center of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill allowed me to initiate my research in Poland during the summer of 2004 as well. A great number of scholars, librarians and archivists have helped me find my way in archives across Central Europe and I wish to thank these people who have so generously shared their time and expertise. They include Michał Smoczyński at Archiwum Jerzego Turowicza in Krakow and Ewa Bąkowska at the Jagiellonian University Library. I also wish to thank Birgit Bernard at the Historisches Archiv der WDR in Cologne, the Friedrich Eberth Stiftung in Bonn, the Polen-Institut in Darmstadt and the Norddeutscher Rundfunk for their generous decision to permit me to use the audio-visual sources with Ludwig Zimmerer´s radio shows from the 1960s. Others who assisted me during various stages of the research process included Blażej Kaczmierczak at the Karl-Dedecius-Archiv at Collegium Polonicum der Europa-Universität Viadrina, Christoph Rohde at Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Ulf Bollmann at Staatsarchiv Hamburg. v My advisor Konrad Jarausch has, of course, been integral to all stages of this project and I thank him for his insight in the topic and confidence in my approach. I also wish to thank my dissertation committee members Chad Bryant, Christopher Browning, Karen Hagemann and Madeline Levine for their input and assistance. Colleagues at UNC Benjamin Pearson, Rósa Magnusdottir, Jenn Walcoff and Bethany Keenan all read parts of my dissertation and they have my gratitude for their feedback. Janelle Werner assisted with formatting and moral support during those last hours before submission. Other friends and colleagues in Europe, who also deserve recognition, include Simone Derix, Thomas Gijswijt and Eike Eckert who helped me localize source materials and further my ideas in Mainz. The Herder-Institut in Marburg, Hans Henning Hahn and Heidi Hein, gave me an opportunity to present and receive feedback on my project in its early stages. Volker, Erika and Julia Keil and Boris Schymetzko housed me during my Berlin time and taught me to love the city of Berlin. I also want to mention my family in these acknowledgements; my parents, Hans and Christina Frieberg, who gave me the independence of mind to pursue my own interests and had complete faith in my ability to complete whatever project I took on; my Mother in Law, J o y c e Seegel, who also offered her full faith and support in our academic pursuits, and my dog, who herded me outside on a daily basis throughout the writing process and helped preserve my health and sanity during the writing stages. Finally, I want to thank my husband, Steven. Without him, this project would not have been possible. From endless cups of hot tea to full-scale emergency grant applications and historiography advice, he has been part of it all, the whole way. All my love, always. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………. 1 PART 1: THE PREMISES OF RECONCILIATION………………………………………. 19 Chapter I. AFTER THE DUST SETTLED: STATE, CHURCHES AND MEDIA IN POLISH-GERMAN RECONCILIATION BEFORE 1956………....................... 19 Polish-German Relations in the Polish State, Church and Media……….........…20 Polish-German Relations in State, Media and Churches in the Federal Republic. 30 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..…... 47 II. CULTURAL DIPLOMATS AND NON-STATE ACTIVISTS AFTER THE POLISH OCTOBER IN 1956…………………………………...………………. 51 Koło Posłów Znak and Poland’s Situation in Postwar Europe……………..…… 54 West German Activists after the Polish October……………………..…………. 70 Conclusion…………………………………………………..…………………... 86 III. “A BEGINNING HAD BEEN MADE.” ZNAK INTELLECTUALS IN WEST GERMANY 1957-1964...……………………………………………………….. 90 The Most Sought-After Man: the 1957 Vienna Conference for the Catholic Press……………………………………………………………………………... 92 Diplomat Without a State: The Results of Stomma’s Visit in West Germany 1958………………………………………………………………………………96 Stefan Kisielewski in West Germany…...………………………………...…… 104 vii Responses to Kisielewski, 1962-1964…………...…………………………….. 114 Conclusion………………………………….……………….…………………. 121 PART 2: NEGOTIATING CHANGE. POLISH-GERMAN ACTIVISM IN AUDIO VISUAL MEDIA………….……………………………………………..………………… 124 IV. TELEVISING THE TERRITORIAL CONFLICT. WEST GERMAN JOUR- NALISTS AND MEDIA STRATEGIES IN RECONCILIATION.................... 124 Poland, Our Neighbor. Hansjakob Stehle’s Portrayal of Poland…………….… 128 Television and Polish-German Relations…………..…………………………...134 Deutschlands Osten-Polens Westen? ..………………………………………… 142 Conclusion...…………………………………………………………...………. 157 V. RADIO AND RECONCILIATION. WDR, KLAUS VON BISMARCK AND POLAND……………………………………………..……………………...… 160 Bismarck – Personal Background………………………………..…………….. 163 The 1964 WDR/ARD Trip to Poland…………………………..……………… 171 “Das Dritte Reich” and WDR in Poland 1965……………….……..………….. 185 Conclusion………………………………………………………...……...……. 196 VI. REFLECTIONS ON THE OTHER, REFLECTIONS ON THE SELF: STEHLE, ZIMMERER AND POLAND IN WDR RADIO, 1960-1967……..………….. 199 Poland on the Radio in the Early 1960s………...……………………………… 202 Poland on the Radio after 1964……………………..…………………….……. 211 Ludwig Zimmerer’s Poland……………………..……………………………... 217 Hansjakob Stehle’s Poland……………………..…………………………….... 223 What do the Poles Think About Us?…………………..……….……………….232 Conclusion…………..…………………………………………………………. 236 viii PART 3. POLITICS AND RECONCILIATION. THE CHURCHES, MEDIA AND OSTPOLITIK, 1968-1972……………………..…………………………………………... 239 VII. RECONCILIATION IN THE HEADLINES: CATHOLICS, PROTESTANTS AND THE MEDIA IN POLISH-GERMAN RELATIONS, 1962-1969…….... 239 Tübingen Memorandum……………..……………………….…………………241 The Protestant Memorandum in 1965…………………………………………..248 The Polish Catholic Bishops’ Letter in 1965………………………..……….… 252 The 1968 Bensberger Memorandum………………..…………………………. 269 Conclusion…………………..…………………………………………………. 280 VIII. RECONCILIATORY POLITICS? POLISH-GERMAN RELATIONS IN THE MEDIA, 1968-1972………………………………………..…………………... 283 Stability or Liberty? 1968 and Polish-German Relations…………..………….. 286 Poland in the West German Media, 1968-1970……………..…………………. 292 The Churches and the Developments