Identity Statement

Reference Code

HU OSA 300-50-11

Title

Information Items and Correspondence from RFE Field Offices

Date(s)

1970 - 1971

Description Level

Series

Extent and medium (processed)

26 Archival boxes, 3.25 linear meters

Content and Structure

Scope and Content (Abstract)

The series consists of transcripts and summaries of anonymized interviews and reports from 1970 and 1971. The Information Items (also Evaluation Items) from 1951 - 1956 are preserved in a microfilm format only; those from 1957 to 1969 are missing and were very probably destroyed pursuant to a decision of the management of the Radio.. Some of the individual documents were duplicated and interfiled within the Subject Files and the Biographical Files, respectively.
The reports, which were sent to the Munich headquarters from RFE’s Western European field bureaus, are based on interviews conducted with Polish immigrants and defectors in Western refugee camps and immigration offices or with Western travelers coming back from Poland, and also RFE correspondence with anonymous sources from the socialist countries. Once they reached the Polish Unit, the reports were carefully checked for accuracy and plausibility. Only those reports which passed the various filtering screening systems were recommended as subjects for producing radio programs.
The documents in this series provide information on a great variety of topics relating to Poland, from the Communist Party to prison conditions, from military issues to defectors, from economic problems to the reception of and reaction to the RFE broadcasts.
From 1971 RFE made created a very similar types of documents under the name "Confidential Reports on Poland".

Accruals

Not Expected

Conditions of Access and Use

Conditions governing access

Unknown

Languages

English, Polish