The First Polish Expedition to the Himalayas in 1939 in the Pages of “Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny”

The first Polish Himalayan expedition attracted significant public attention not only within specialized circles but also in the general press. A review of extant sources reveals that the press coverage of the Polish expedition to Nanda Devi East in 1939 has not been previously subject to scholarly scrutiny. The article aims to address this lacuna by meticulously analysing press reports, particularly those published in the first national daily, “Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny”. The source material comprises issues of this journal published between April and August 1939, as well as selected articles from other newspapers that reported on the course of the Polish expedition to the Himalayas. The article is structured in three sections. The first provides an overview of the history of Himalayan and Karakorum exploration up until 1939, with a particular focus on attempts to summit the highest peaks. The second section delineates the course of the first Polish expedition to the Himalayas. The third section, based on an analysis of “Ilustrowany Kuryer Codzienny”, explores how the expedition to Nanda Devi East was covered in the Polish press. The article concludes by synthesizing the collected source material, summarizing the findings of the analysis, and identifying the aspects of the expedition that received particular attention in the press. The form of these reports and the manner in which the Polish mountaineers’ expedition was portrayed are also presented. Additionally, the article evaluates the significance of this topic within the broader context of other information published in the journal.