[2] The first recorded incident dates to the late 15th century in the Kingdom of Poland related to a complaint by Szwajpolt Fioł (a Franconian from Neustadt living in Krakow) against a Polish bishop who forbade a printer in Kraków from printing liturgical books in Cyrillic script; Fioł lost the case and was sentenced to prison, becoming the first known victim of censorship in Poland.
[1] An edict of Stefan Batory of 1579 in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth introduced the idea of wartime censorship, prohibiting distributing information on military actions.
[1] In the 17th century Poland saw the publication and adoption of the first Polish editions of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum (1601, 1603, 1617), which among others banned the books of Erasmus of Rotterdam, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, Copernicus, Stanisław Sarnicki, Jan Łaski, as well as some other satires (pl:Literatura sowizdrzalska).
[4][6][5] The idea of freedom of speech was in general highly valued by the Polish nobility,[7][8] and it was one of the key dimensions distinguishing the Commonwealth from the more restrictive absolute monarchies, common in contemporary Europe.
[1][4][6] In the last century or so of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the issue of censorship was therefore occasionally debated by Polish Sejm and regional sejmiks, usually with regards to individual works or authors, whom some deputies either defended or criticized.
[3] Following Poland regaining independence in 1918, the cabinet of Jędrzej Moraczewski who served as the first Prime Minister of the Second Polish Republic between November 1918 and January 1919 removed preventive censorship, abolishing a number of laws inherited from the partition period, and replacing them with ones more supportive of the freedom of press.
[13] In the Second Polish Republic, censorship was often employed "in defense of decency" against writers whose works were considered "immoral" or "disturbing the social order.
[15] Polish historian Ryszard Nycz [pl] described the censorship of that time as "focused primarily on anarchists, leftists, and Communist sympathizers among the avant-garde writers".
[3] Polish writers whose works were censored included Antoni Słonimski, Julian Tuwim, Józef Łobodowski, Bruno Jasieński, Anatol Stern, Aleksander Wat, Tadeusz Peiper and Marian Czuchnowski [pl].
The index of banned authors included such Polish authors as Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Słowacki, Stanisław Wyspiański, Bolesław Prus, Stefan Żeromski, Józef Ignacy Kraszewski, Władysław Reymont, Stanisław Wyspiański, Julian Tuwim, Kornel Makuszyński, Leopold Staff, Eliza Orzeszkowa and Maria Konopnicka.
[1] Communist era censorship targeted topics associated with Soviet repression against Polish citizens, works critical of communism or labeled as subversive, and much of the contemporary émigré literature.
[1] A plan for Internet censorship legislation that included the creation of a register of blocked web sites was abandoned by the Polish Government in early 2011, following protests and petitions opposing the proposal.
Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland Konrad Szymański said the directive "may result in adopting regulations that are analogous to preventive censorship, which is discouraged not only in the Polish constitution but also in the EU treaties".