Polnische Malerei vom Ausgang des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart.
GUESTS OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC
If the exhibition was a propaganda show then it was less one staged by the Polish Ministry of culture as by the Krupp company and the Essen city fathers. At a time in which support was gradually fading for the barely constructive Polish policies of the Federal government, initiatives like the Folkswang exhibition offered a welcome opportunity to present oneself demonstratively as a pioneer of close relationships between Poland and West Germany. Thus the show was not only a personal triumph for Berthold Beitz and a PR success for the Krupp company, but was also recognised as a platform for political self display. And even if there is some doubt as to whether culture can ever be an effective means for closer political ties, it can certainly be used as an excellent political means. This does not apply so much to the exhibition as to the visits by the curator Stefan Kozakiewicz (6.–21.12.1962) and the director Stanislav Lorentz (2.–17.2.1963) to West Germany.
It was quite clear to Kozakiewicz that the exhibition and his trip “were to be used” by Krupp and the city of Essen “to demonstrate” their commitment to closer ties between Germany and Poland. (Kozakiewicz report, AMNW; revealingly he used the pejorative verb „wyzyskać“, “exploit”). Indeed Beitz, Hundhausen and the city of Essen had left nothing to chance and organised a tight programme of visits that became a truly breathless succession of press conferences and meetings with West German personalities from the worlds of culture, business and politics (the programme can still be seen in the AMF). This is how Kozakiewicz described it in his report: “The programme foresaw a visit to the Lord Mayor of Essen in the town hall, […] a reception after the opening of the exhibition, a visit to the Bavarian Ministry of Culture and the city council in Munich, a reception given by the Hamburg city council, the Bremen city council, and visits to Cologne, Bonn and Stuttgart. The plans to visit the city councils in Munich and Bremen were struck off the programme in favour of lunch at the private home of Herr Beitz and tea in the Villa Hügel with the doyen of the Krupp family, Tilo von Wilmowsky, as well as visits to the homes of the Württemberg Minister of Culture and the former president of West Germany Theodor Heuss in Stuttgart. I also visited Herr Hundhausen’s private home on two occasions. From several conversations I know that Herr Beitz was mainly responsible for encouraging people to adopt this programme (this is definitely the case with regard to the visit to Prof. Heuss), in close collaboration with the city of Essen.” (ibid, from the translation by RW)
The official opening of the exhibition on 15th December – there were 500 guests including high-ranking personalities from the city and region – “was very solemn” and included speeches, a string quartet and enormous red-and-white bouquets of flowers on the podium (ibid.). Forty journalists turned up for the press conference, which was followed by further newspaper, radio and television interviews for numerous print media and broadcasting stations.
Beitz and Hundhausen, along with the city of Essen, were clearly extremely keen to pursue their persuasive efforts with regard to Poland, to demonstrate that the majority of their fellow citizens viewed closer relationships between West Germany and Poland in a positive manner, and to show that any existing revisionist tones were in no way representative. Whereas, according to Kozakiewicz’ report, Beitz refrained from expressing clear political views on this occasion, Hundhausen’s comments were all the more forthright. At the reception in the Essen town hall he declared that “without beating about the bush and with the agreement of the two highest representatives of the city, [i. e. the Lord Mayor, Wilhelm Nieswandt and the chief municipal director Friedrich Wolff, both SPD], it is good that a city like Essen can conduct its own “foreign policy” similar to that of the policies of the Krupp company. This policy with regard to Poland quite correctly contradicts the policies of the Bonn government. We must finally put an end to the ghost of the Hallstein doctrine, take up diplomatic relationships with Poland and recognise the Oder-Neisse borders. He was of the opinion that the extension of cultural exchanges would provide a helpful foundation for such policies; he was sure that the current shake-up in the Federal Government was favourable in this respect, but that further positive developments could follow after Adenauer’s resignation, which in his opinion would not be long.” (ibid.)
Carl Hundhausen, who was commissioned by the Krupp company to repair the damaged reputation of the firm after the Second World War, made no bones about using his charm to successfully influence Kozakiewicz. Whatever the case he left the impression with his guests that he was “a sincere friend of Poland and a faithful advocate of closer relationships between West Germany and Poland”. Incidentally Hundhausen also confided to him privately that he was not so sure whether the capitalist economic system was better than the communist. (ibid).
Political standpoints were not everywhere as clear as they were during the reception in the Essen town hall. In his report Kozakiewicz carefully noted where people talked about closer “political“ ties and where they only referred to “cultural” ties, and observed, amongst others, that in contrast to Essen, Hamburg and Stuttgart „the representatives from the city of Munich and the state of Bavaria refrained from uttering any expressions of a political nature (ibid.).
