Modzelewski Karol Cyryl
Modzelewski Karol Cyryl (b. 23 November 1937, Moscow), political activist, historian. He is the adopted son of Zygmunt Modzelewski.
In the years 1950–1956, he was a member of the Union of Polish Youth. In October 1956, he was one of the representatives of the revisionist political current and a harsh critic of the presence of Stalinist mechanisms in Polish politics. In 1956, he co-founded the Revolutionary Youth Union. In the years 1959–1964, he was an academic worker in the Faculty of History at the University of Warsaw. In 1962, he co-founded the Political Debate Club at the university; it was dissolved by the authorities in 1963. In the years 1957–1964, he was a member of the Polish Socialist Youth Union and the Polish United Workers’ Party. He was removed from the latter after publishing an open letter to the party members together with Jacek Kuroń, indicating the disparities between the Polish political system and the ideals of communism. Due to the publication of the letter, he was imprisoned in the years 1964–1967. Modzelewski took part in the activities organised by the “commando” at the University of Warsaw, including the protests against the ban on Kazimierz Dejmek’s staging of Dziady by Adam Mickiewicz. He was arrested on 8 March 1968, and in January 1969 he was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on the charges of conspiracy and inciting student protests in March 1968. He was released on probation in September 1971.
The entry was written by Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat, Ph.D. on the basis of source materials of the PWN printing house
