Jerusalemian and Lippstadtian peregrinations of Matołek the Billy Goat. Research on the Polish picturebooks in the East and West

The authors trace the previously non-examined history of the editions of Kornel Makuszyński and Marian Walentynowicz’s adventures of Matołek the Billy Goat (canonical example of Polish children’s picturebooks) published during the Second World War (in Palestine) and immediately after it (in Lippstadt, Germany) in the context of the life of Poles in exile (in particular in the aspect of culture and education) in the Middle East and West Germany. Research analyses are focused on the circumstances and mechanisms of publication, adaptation and graphic modification, educational functions and the scope of the reading impact of these initiatives in the context of the mass migrations of the time and intercultural exchange. Also, as far as the interpretative aspect is concerned, the peregrinatory nature of the main plot line seems to convene with the socio-historical context of the day, marked with the common mass experience of migration, which additionally co-created space for intercultural educational offers as a part of the educational life of Poles in exile.