Prof. Andrzej Romanowski wrote "A letter opened to Donald Tusk" in the rescue for the Polish Biographical Dictionary (PSB). It is part of our national heritage, part of our national DNA. Before planet War II it was published under the editorial board of Prof. Władysław Konopczyński. Thus, it is an crucial part of the heritage of endection. Today, the editor-in-chief of PSB is known, among others, for the breaks of Tygodnik Przegląd.
PSB aims to collect biography of well-deserved, deceased people associated with Poland (also with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, with the Republic of Both Nations and their flaxy ones). The first volume was released in 1935 and the next 3 by 1938. Later there was a break until 1946 due to Nazi business and another, after 1949, during the Stalinism period due to the removal from the position of editor-in-chief Prof. Władysław Konopczyński:
Letter open to Donald Tusk
Prime Minister, I ask you to save the Polish Biographical Dictionary (PSB). You – a historian by education – do not request to explain what this work is. In short, it is simply a national good, 1 of the monuments of Polish humanities. erstwhile on November 25, 2010, in the face of the dangers of the day, the Sejm of the Republic took honorary patronage over the PSB, all clubs and all MPs voted unanimously for it.
I.
Sometimes I meet with the question: “Why PSB, after all is Wikipedia?” And after all, Wikipedia is based on the PSB's biograms. In Wikipedia, errors are on the agenda – in PSB they are minimized by a multilevel control system. Most Wikipedia passwords come from an ad hoc request – PSB biographies are created systematically: based on the list of passwords prepared previously. And there are hundreds of biographies in the PSB that Wikipedia doesn't even mention.
Almost all nation has its own biographical dictionary. There are the following dictionaries: French, Swedish, Hungarian, Belgian, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, of course besides American and Canadian, as well as Argentine, South African, or Australian. Biographical dictionaries even have countries as tiny as Luxembourg, and nations as microscopic as Lusatia.
The publication of a biographical dictionary always takes years – for example, the Swedish dictionary began to appear in 1917 and has not yet been completed (it reached the letter ‘S’). The Neue Deutsche Biography from 1953 to 2024 includes 28 volumes, but including its predecessor, Allgemeine Deutsche Biography (1875-1912), has 84 volumes, and has a full of 108 years. The British besides made a fresh edition of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography from 1992 to 2004 and, with the participation of 10,000 colleagues from around the world, published it in 60 volumes (this work, including yearly supplements, present has 60,000 biograms). In December 2020, the Italians graduated from 1960, Dizionario biografico degli Italiani; it contains in 100 volumes 40,000 passwords. This dictionary is published by L’Instituto della Enciclopedia Treccani, whose manager is appointed by the president of the Republic. All national biographical dictionaries have akin prestige. They all benefit from constant state funding.
And the Polish Biographical Dictionary? It has been coming out in Krakow since the nineties: its first notebook was released on 10 January 1935. It counts 55 volumes and 35,984 pages of fine, two-spin printing so far. It contains 28.785 biograms arranged in a uniform alphabetical order and presently ends with the letter ‘T’. The technological level of these biographies, their detail, accuracy and accuracy, sometimes approaching mini-monography, puts us at the forefront of the world: just compare PSB with Österreichisches Biographyisches Lexikon, with its short, synthetic notes. The PSB is all the more amazing that it is created by a non-leading way: it is made (based on articles sent by authors) by a group of highly qualified editors-passionate, who are mostly paid close to the minimum wage.
II.
The problems of the Polish Biographical Dictionary are known to the public. They were informed by the media (Andrzej Nowakowski in “Gazeta Wyborcza” X 2024, Paweł Sergeyczyk in “Overview” 20-26 I 2025). During the plenary session of the Parliament, Ms Dorota Olko called for a cross-party agreement to guarantee the Dictionary's unchangeable functioning. All these voices have not so far triggered a response. Neither did my efforts, which have been going on for 18 years, fail. Hence, my letter to the Prime Minister, who is already only a cry of despair.
When I included the editorial board of the Polish Biographical Dictionary on 1 January 2003, his financial situation was stable. While wages have always been low here, they have not yet been close the minimum wage. Copyright and printing fees were covered by the Foundation for Polish Science. In addition, in 2004, the Foundation introduced incentive bonuses for editors. And she assured me that the Dictionary would subsidize for the remainder of its existence. Unfortunately, in 2007 the fresh Management Board of the Foundation did not support these commitments: bonuses were liquidated and the grant was cut by 2/3 (after 4 years it was completely abolished). In this situation, he took care of the Dictionary of your government. In 1st 2010-2011, the Minister of Culture Bogdan Zdrojewski provided us with assistance. And in 1st 2012-2016 we lived with the National improvement Programme for Humanities (NPRH), created – especially for PSB – by the Minister of Science, Barbara Kudrycka.
It only got worse later. In 1st 2016 and 2017 the fresh NPRH Council twice refused us a grant. In 2019 she granted it to us, but well below our needs. This grant ends on March 5th. Had it not been granted an additional grant in August 2024, the Vice Minister of Science, Maciej Gdula, the PSB would have stopped appearing in a month. But this grant must be settled until 31 XII 2025, and its continuation is not seen.
It is said: you gotta usage the fresh NPRH grant. But it's a road to nowhere. The NPRH rule is to be incapable to apply for a fresh grant until the erstwhile grant is settled. Waiting for a fresh grant can last for respective months, or possibly respective years. However, if we even get a grant shortly after 5 March (which is impossible), and if we immediately send orders to the authors, then the following clock starts to beat: the author needs about 9 months, the editor (who in fact is always a hidden co-author, introduces so many amendments) needs another 9 months, and the next 9 months must be devoted to authorization, adjutative and publishing works. Thus, counting even from the mediate of this year (which, I repeat, is not real) in the issue of the Dictionary would gotta happen a break of at least 2 years. In practice, this would mean its end.
And here's a substance I address to the Prime Minister. let the Polish Biographical Dictionary to proceed to exist! delight guarantee that he is stabilised, so that the backing is permanent, renewable annually, legally secured. It takes PLN 2.5 million a year. Is this not up to the budget?
III.
Mr. Prime Minister, I am not here to address the second PSB series. due to the fact that the Dictionary publishes only the biograms of people who are dead, and due to the fact that during its departure various large Poles died, we do not have any biograms specified as Władysław Anders, John Paul II, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Jack Kuronia, Czesław Miłosz, or Wisława Szymborska.
One day we'll gotta settle this, but present we gotta save what is. The PSB publishing line has already been frozen, due to the fact that for deficiency of backing we cannot order fresh passwords. And what happens after December 31?
The extermination of the Polish Biographical Dictionary would not only be a crime in Polish humanities. It would be something that can only be compared to its two-time closure: in 1939 by the Nazi occupier and in 1949 by the Stalinist authorities. I can’t imagine that Poland can let this to happen free and independent.”
Prof. prof. prof. prof. dr hab. Andrzej Romanowski
Chief Editor of the Polish Biographical Dictionary
