What Could Have Gone Wrong? An Anti-Communist in a Postcolonial Country at the Beginning of the Cold War: Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s Trip to Burma

Abstract

Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, a well-known (in Poland) writer, undertook a trip to Burma (Myanmar) in 1952, which resulted in a diary A Journey to Burma, a little-known, now forgotten text, yet a fascinating one. This article, based on Herling-Grudziński’s diary, and the Burmese media reports on Herling-Grudziński’s trip to Burma in the 1950s, is divided into two parts. In the first, it tries to show the value of Herling’s diary as an unknown yet valuable source on newly decolonized Burma. In the second part, it presents the Burmese reactions to the visit of an Eastern European anti-communist coming to socialist Burma to warn against communism, and explains why his trip was not successful.