The article entitled „A borderland smuggling epic, Lover of the Great Bear by Sergiusz Piasecki, as perceived by two German »borderland« writers: Hans Lipinsky-Gottersdorf and Siegfried Lenz” discusses the problems of reception of Polish literature in German-speaking countries. It focuses on the reception of the inter-war novel Lover of the Great Bear, the author of which was forced to leave Poland after World War Two. Known in many countries, the novel depicting a circle of smugglers at the Polish-Soviet border aroused considerable interest when it was eventually printed in the German language in 1957. The novel by Sergiusz Piasecki was discussed by, among others, two writers of the Polish-German borderland. Hans Lipinsky-Gottersdorf, originally from Silesia, wrote a review for a radio programme; Siegfried Lenz, originally from Masuria, had his review printed in the press. Both of them paid a lot of attention to the issue of borderland; what won their acknowledgement was „the spirit of the East” of the novel as well as the faithful rendition of the exotic reality and the circle of smugglers.