Pomoc intelektualna Polski dla krajów Europy Wschodniej i Środkowej
Polish Intellectual Help for the Countries of Central and Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: The political situation that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union allowed the opening of the borders between the Polish and the other socialist countries. Poland - although it remained over the years (1939-1989) under the rule of a totalitarianism - retained a degree of the religious, spiritual and intellectual independence. The Catholic Church in Poland was strong, defended the nation against the ideological enslavement. There was an independent Catholic intelligentsia. Only in Poland, in the midst of all the socialist countries, there was an Catholic University independent of the ruling ideology in research, training and education of the young. In the new situation Poland realized the duty to provide assistance primarily in the fields of religion, but also in the field of intellectual, scientific, cultural neighboring countries deformed by communism. First the Catholic Church came to help. In time, the religious assistance, usually united by charity, took the organized form.

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