(CZ) Nové perspektivy bádání o Komenského vztahu k Polsku
(EN) New Prospects for the Research on Comenius’ Relationship to Poland

There has never been any doubt about the fundamental significance of the relationship of J. A. Comenius to Poland. In recent years both Czech and Polish historians have been studying mainly the similarities and the differences which existed in the socio-economic pattern of the Czech lands and Great Poland in the 16th and 17th centuries. It can be said, for instance, that the participation of Great Poland in trade with Western Europe via Gdarisk opened the way to the world also for Comenius and his friend J. Jons- tone, which the Czech environment could hardly have done. On the other hand, it must be said, however, that in this field, too, there are still great reserves. No systematic use has so far been made of the fund of the Archiwum Braci Czeskich in the county and city archives at Poznari, of the RadziwilJas funds in Gdarisk and Torufi, not to speak of the funds in the libraries and archives in the Soviet Union. Quite a number of useful things will come to light from the confrontation of the views of Comenius with those of his Polish contemporaries. As regards the opinions on the conquest of the New World arid the question of religious toleration (including the relationship of Comenius to the »Polish Brethren«) Comenius appears sometimes as a champion of clearly progressive lueas of pre-White-Mountain Bohemia, at other times as a split advocate of religious institutions differing from the Polish as well as the Dutch practice. The relationship of Comenius to his Polish »second homeland« is so important that no scientific work on Comenius is possible without its study. It is necessary for both sides to be better informe 1 and start joint work on basic problems. What is felt very strongly is the absence of an international centre for co-ordinating work on Comenian studies, which has been repeatedly proposed by Soviet scholars since 1957. Polish experience also shows that, on the one hand, it is necessary to prepare the pre-requisites for a new, modern interpretation of the whole of Comenius’ work, and on the other hand, to make the Comenius heritage accessible to the greatest possible number of readers in a comprehensible and attractive way.