Wizyta Willy'ego Brandta w Polsce w dniach 6-8 grudnia 1970 roku w świetle ówczesnej prasy polskiej
An Image of Willy Brandt's Visit to Poland on 6-8 December 1970, in the Light of the Contemporary Polish Press

Summary/Abstract: On 6–8 December 1970, Willy Brandt made his first state visit to Poland as Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany. The unusual historical significance of the event was occasioned by the importance of the treaties signed at the time with the aim of stabilising relations between the two states. In preparation, six sessions of diplomatic talks were held prior to the German leader’s visit and concluding on 18 November 1970. The Polish press gave both the negotiations and the visit itself extensive coverage. This provides profoundly interesting details concerning the Polish-German negotiations, which were a result of the new Social Democrat Social Democrat’s Eastern policy. It represents a viewpoint of great significance, inasmuch as it presents the outlook of the press’s principals, which is to say, the state authorities. They attempted to convey a specific image of the Brandt – Cyrankiewicz – Gomułka meeting, one that was far from true, and lacking in detail and commentary, but serving a purpose nevertheless, as all good propaganda should. The image of W. Brandt's first state visit to Poland presented by the article is reconstructed on the basis of the Polish press coverage. To this end, twenty national and local titles are analysed. The true course of events was distorted in line with distinct political goals. In all likelihood, manipulation of the contents occurred in the capital, from whence schema, scenarios and comments prepared in advance were sent to individual regional and local dailies. Paradoxically, it was the local dailies, each printing up to 100 thousand copies, who could allow themselves a greater ‘freedom’, and it in these that we can find original headlines, unique photographs, columns by selected journalists, recapitulations bearing bylines, and unadulterated quotations from the foreign press and the overviews published therein. Undoubtedly, Brandt's visit to Poland in December 1970 was also an historic landmark for the Polish authorities, who were well aware of the meeting’s significance.

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