„Jak wyglądała sprawa wydania Pańskiej książki o Mandelsonie?” Listy Floriana Sokołowa do Jerzego W. Borejszy

Abstrakt

In the article, nine letters from Florian Sokołow to Jerzy W. Borejsza, dating back to 1962-1965, have been presented. Their author, living in London since the end of the Second World War, was the son of one of the most prominent 20th-century Zionist activists and the brother-in-law of Stanisław Mendelson, an eminent Polish socialist of the late 19th century who cofounded the Polish Socialist Party. The recipient and initiator of the correspondence was Jerzy W. Borejsza, who later became an outstanding historian of the 19th and 20th centuries, exploring matters of socialism and totalitarianism. The letters concerned a project of a book on Mendelson, withdrawn for political reasons, based on materials that were supposed to be in the hands of the family. Sokołow’s letters are an interesting source for the history of the now-forgotten figure of Mendelson and a contribution to the history of both the 20th-century left-wing Warsaw intelligentsia and the organisation of academic life in the middle of the previous century. They were preceded by an extensive introduction, explaining the context of the issues raised by the correspondents as well as the research apparatus.