Flying Through the Fear Barrier

The story of the TKN — the Society for Academic Courses, known as the ‘Flying University’ — which was set up to counter the omissions and distortions in state education. ‘Our greatest achievement was breaking the barrier of fear, bringing people together for the purpose of self-education, and simply sustaining the will to carry on.’ Two distinguished representatives of the thriving ‘alternative culture’ in Poland visited the USA and Britain respectively last year. One spoke about the activities of the ‘Society for Academic Courses’ which is responsible for university lectures in private apartments, trying in particular to set the record straight as regards Polish history; and the other spoke about the successes of the leading Catholic publishing house which has just celebrated its 25th anniversary. Professor Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, while visiting the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, gave an interview to Marek Nowak, the full text of which appeared in Studium Papers (Ann Arbor) 3/1984; a condensed version is printed below. During a visit to London, Jacek Wozniakowski described the work of the Znak publishing house, of which he is the Director. (See box ‘Znak: Making people's voices heard.’)