Problem zanieczyszczeń wód w Polsce w latach 1945–1961: wstęp do badań
The issue of water pollution in Poland in the years 1945–1961: introduction to research

Summary/Abstract: The paper contains one of the first attempts to carry out a historical analysis of water pollution in Poland in the years 1945–1961, i.e. from the end of World War II until the adoption of the Act on the protection of waters against pollution, on the basis of available source studies. The author aims to answer the question concerning the most important components and participants of the discourse on the quality of Polish waters and provides a description of water pollution and its consequences based on the analysed source materials. Apart from specialised academic and popular science press, the main basis for the overview are materials which have not yet been exploited by historians. They are kept in the Archive of New Records in such fonds as: Państwowa Komisja Planowania Gospodarczego [National Commission for Economic Planning], Ministerstwo Żeglugi i Gospodarki Wodnej [Ministry of Navigation and Water Management], Kancelaria Sejmu PRL [Chancellery of the Sejm of the People’s Republic of Poland], Ministerstwo Gospodarki Komunalnej [Ministry of Public Utilities], and incoming correspondence of the Letter Office of the Polish Radio, currently available at the Archive of Documentation and Programme Collection of TVP S.A. The paper is also aimed at determining the time of the appearance of environmental conscience among the Polish population, as well as the attitudes and behaviours that can be seen as the symptoms of its emergence.

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