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Marian Falski's "Reading Primer" (Elementarz) was the first textbook to be published in Warsaw in 1945 by the newly established State School Publishing House (Panstwowe Zaklady Wydawnictw Szkolnych). It was officially approved by the Ministry of Education and by the Censorship Office, but nevertheless had an interim character, unlike other editions published before, during and after the war, both in Poland and abroad. The core of the book was reprinted from the prewar edition. However, in his depictions of war trauma and postwar circumstances the author was apparently trying to comply with the propaganda model developed during the Stalinist period. These findings are empirically grounded in a content analysis of the primers following archival research conducted in the files of the Ministry of Education and the Censorship Office, both of which are housed in the Modern Records Archive (Archiwum Akt Nowych) in Warsaw.

Artykuł charakteryzuje transatlantycki (amerykańsko-niemiecko-austriacko- -polski) projekt badawczo-edukacyjny z obszaru public history dotyczący Moszczanki – górskiej wsi o średniowiecznym rodowodzie, położonej w powiecie prudnickim, w pobliżu granicy z Czechami. Wkładem merytorycznym do projektu ze strony polskiej (Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego) było m.in. przygotowanie informacji o historii wsi Moszczanka i jej XIX-wiecznych przeobrażeniach. Formalnie inicjatorem projektu był Andrew Bergerson z University of Missouri w Kansas City; faktycznie projekt powstał z inicjatywy rodziny Roberta Kiefera, potomka niemieckich emigrantów z Moszczanki (wówczas Langenbrück) z końca XIX wieku, która przekazała do zbiorów archiwalnych amerykańskiego uniwersytetu zbiór korespondencji i fotografii swoich przodków z przełomu XIX i XX wieku

This paper analyses the process of production and regulation of school textbooks in Poland under communist rule. The stages of textbook approval were as follows: selection of authors; editorial work at the publishing house; discussions in the commissions of the Ministry of Education; decisions of the censorship office. It is argued that the Polish United Workers' Party (i.e. the Polish communist party) played a dominant role at every step of this process. The question of possible influence of the Soviet communists is also addressed. Some changes in the textbook approval process are traced in time, with emphasis put on sustainability of the principle of dominant position of the party. The constraints of power of the communist regime in the field of education are briefly discussed, with the human factor given most serious consideration. There had always been a shortage of people, from the party's point of view, ready to implement rules, and far too many of those who undermined them. This analysis is based on the archival holdings of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of Poland and of the censorship office. Teachers' press and other publications dealing with school textbooks and history of education in the People's Poland have also been used.