Polish professor is refused exit visa

by Christopher Howse
A POLISH professor has been refused a visa by his government to come to England for a meeting of Catholic journalists in Fleet Street.
Professor Wladislaw Bartoszewski had accepted an invitation to address the Catholic Writers' Guild (The Keys) at a meeting yesterday.
In a telegram to the guild he said: "Unfortunately I am unable to meet you as the Polish authorities have refused to give me necessary travel permit. I appreciate very much your friendship. Hoping to see you in the future. I express wishes to all my dear friends from the Catholic Writers' Guild."
The latest action against' the professor. who has a chair of history at Lublin University, comes as no surprise to a man who has run up against government disapproval for his defence of human rights and participation in the country's :Flying University'.
He was prevented from coming to. England last year. Italy in August and to the International PEN congress in 1976.
Professor Bartoszewski was imprisoned in Auschwitz during the war after joining the Polish underground and then gaoled by the post-war government from 1946 to 1954.
His academic speciality is the history of the Second World War.
The guild decided to read a statement by the professor on the role of the Catholic writer in Poland at its Thursday meeting.