About Poland and Europe in Spanish: Józef Potocki and Józef Łobodowski

Grzegorz Bąk
Department of German and Slavic Philology
Complutense University of Madrid

ORCID: 0000-0002-5175-457X

Published: 22/12/2023

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/ahi.2023.2.11

ABSTRACT: The diplomat Józef Potocki, who in the years 1944-1968 headed the Legation of the Republic of Poland in Madrid, and the writer Józef Łobodowski developed an intense activity in Spain to show Spanish society a positive and attractive image of Poland and its culture. These included conferences in important academic forums, publications in Spanish (articles in magazines and books) and participation in radio and television programs. Their contribution to Polonia. Revista illustrada, a monthly publication of the Polish Red Cross directed by the delegate of this institution, Juliusz Babecki, and run with the precious help of his daughter Karolina Babecka, is noteworthy. Polonia was an exception among the Polish exile magazines as it was addressed not to the Polish reader but to the country’s readers where it was published. Among its subscribers were prominent representatives of Spain’s political, ecclesiastical, and cultural elite. Both intellectuals, Potocki and Łobodowski, knew how to convey to their readers interesting information about their homeland and what was happening in Central and Eastern Europe.

KEYWORDS: Józef Potocki, Józef Łobodowski, Polish exile in Spain, diplomacy of the Polish Government in exile, Spanish-Polish cultural relations.