Das Übersetzungswesen im kommunistischen Polen zwischen Dominanz und Vielfalt (1944-91)

incl. ref.

Translation played a constitutive role in the formation and further existence of the Soviet Union. From the very beginning up to the decline in 1991, it pervaded every aspect of life. Due to the language policy a huge amount of books, brochures and other publications were translated not only from "capitalist" languages but also between the many languages of the Soviet Union. To a certain degree, this holds true also for the Socialist camp. Nevertheless, up to now, translation studies only showed a superficial interest in translation history of communist reigned countries. The focus in research laid around the question how and up to which extend censorship influenced translations. By that, the systemic character of translation was neglected. In the course of this article, I would like to highlight some systemic features of communist translation methods in communist Poland (1944-1991). Poland was in comparison to other communist reigned states with respect to cultural affairs more liberal. A closer look on translational activities will go beyond the traditional concentration of translations of fictional work. By that, we gain to seek deeper structural features. Based on detailed figures about translations made from and into Polish in the mentioned period of time, we get to see, how cultural policy did not directly depend from the Soviet Union, but showed several independent features.