Today is the 80th birthday of Lech Wałęsa, a Polish trade unionist who led the Solidarity movement, which helped to bring about the end of communism in Poland and in Eastern Europe.
I was thinking about how to celebrate this anniversary, and found out a fantastic document shared on X by Beinecke Library. It’s a telegram from Wałęsa to Czesław Miłosz in which he congratulates the Polish poet and essayist on the occasion of receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The telegram is a part of a collection of Czesław Miłosz papers maintained by the Yale University Library. The papers consist of writings, correspondence, photos, personal papers, audio files, and printed material spanning the years 1880-2000.
This particular telegram was being sent on October 9, 1980, the same day the Swedish Academy, which is responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Literature, made the announcement.
The text of the telegram goes:
DEAR SIR, THE SINCEREST AND WARMEST CONGRATULATIONS ON RECEIVING THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE. AT SUCH MOMENTS I FEEL EXTREMELY PROUD TO BELONG TO A NATION THAT PRODUCES SUCH WONDERFUL POETS AND WRITERS AS YOU. THIS PRIZE IS A RECOGNITION OF YOUR WORK AND AN HONOR FOR THE ENTIRE POLISH NATION. ONCE AGAIN, CONGRATULATIONS! LECH WALESA
Source: Beinecke Library on X / Images: Wikipedia, Yale University Library
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