Polish Frontier Research Articles

Silent Traces and Deserted Places

This article explores how silence is held and transmitted through the materiality of deserted and abandoned places along the Polish frontier; and the generative role that silencing plays in local practices of tolerance. The article discusses two specific sites of silence in a town on Poland’s eastern border. Both sites were abandoned or destroyed at the same time, and are part of a larger landscape of religious and ethnic conflict in the area. This history of conflict is managed through small everyday acts of forgetting, minimising and silencing. Yet, the two sites at the centre of this article demonstrate that silencing is an incomplete process. The fragmented materiality of the two places undercuts local silences, actively invoking experiences and memories of the Holocaust. The objects missing and present in these haunted places are too inconsequential to be considered ruins – one site is notable only because it is an empty field. Yet these sites and objects act as powerful silent traces. Traces, as Napolitano (2015) has observed, are knots of history with an ambiguous auratic presence, located between memory and forgetting, repression and amplification. Traces conjure that which we can and that which we cannot say. The deserted places of the town draw attention to the silences that conviviality is built upon. This article considers how paying close attention to the specific silences concerning ‘unthinkable’ histories can reveal the power relations embedded in the process of history making and community building not just nationally, but also at the local level (Trouillot 1995).

Reinforcing the border, reconfiguring identities: Polish initiatives in the Carpathians in the interwar period

ABSTRACT Established in the wake of the First World War, the multiethnic Polish Second Republic was determined to secure its long southern border, formed by the Carpathian Mountains, which prior to the war had been the internal (porous) Habsburg frontier separating the province of Galicia from Hungary. The article presents a series of initiatives essentially emanating from the state (here, primarily the military authorities) in the 1930s. The initiatives were designed to turn the Carpathian highlanders across the breadth of the interwar Polish frontier into loyal Polish citizens while encouraging them both to retain their own local identity (as Hutsuls, Górale, Lemkos and others) and to consider themselves part of a larger Carpathian brotherhood (the latter defined within the borders of the Polish state). In other words, the authorities sought to capitalize on what they perceived to be national indifference on the part of many highlanders by making room for their local identities within a more broadly conceived heterogeneous state of regions, one that would win the allegiance of the highlanders, in that sense reinforcing the border.

A FLUORESCENCE CONTRIBUTION TO THE RECOGNITION OF FLUIDS TRAPPED IN MINERALS IN THE CARPATHIAN OUTCROPS

Based on the assumption that fluorescence studies are an important tool in search and characterization of hydrocarbons, samples of rocks, minerals and the organic matter were collected in the Western Carpathian area spreading from the Mszana Górna region in the west to the Bieszczady Mts. in the east, and continuously, towards SE outside the Polish frontier, in Ukraine and Slovakia. Analytical procedures comprised preparation, microscopic observation of the material (organic matter and minerals) from the point of view of inclusions and fluorescence followed by detailed luminescence studies. Those steps have been followed by the microthermometric determinations. The application of the fluid inclusion methods, which are one of the newest analytical tools in the last two decades have led to the characteristics of fluids trapped in the inclusions in the area. The fluorescence studies showed some diversity of hydrocarbons both in compositions and in distribution. The analyses were performed in double-sided polished thin sections prepared based on cold techniques. Fluorescence of inclusions in two minerals, quartz and calcite, was checked in those specific thin sections either in glued wafers, or loose (single) crystals. The fluid inclusion studies were accompanied later on by solid organic matter inclusion studies. Those point to the presence of the following minerals: quartz, dolomite, calcite, clay minerals, gypsum with anhydrite admixture, traces of pyrite and siderite, feldspars. General distribution of fluorescing and not fluorescing inclusions suggests the presence of light hydrocarbons (methane) in the west and south of the area, being enriched in higher hydrocarbons (oil) towards the east.

The policy of Poland is at the peak of USA interests

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Poland turned out to be between the two creatures of power. The Federal Republic of Germany initially reluctantly perceived the Polish frontier, which was the subject of lengthy negotiations. Finally, the united Germany recognized the border along the Oder and Neisse in November 1990, and ratified the documents in December 1991. In turn, the Soviet Union, and since December 1991 – Russia – hastened to withdraw its troops from the Polish territory. After negotiations that lasted throughout the year – from September 1990 to October 1991 – a plan for the withdrawal of Russian troops was realised. The last soldier of the former Red Army left the Polish territory on September 18, 1993.In this situation Poland set one long-term, allied relationship with the United States as one of the strategic objectives of its own foreign policy, since only the United States at that time could protect a new democracy from external attacks of former empires. At the same time, we note that the relations of the Allies were called as strategic by the Poles themselves, not the Americans, and secondly, Poland did everything possible and impossible to be called an ally of the United States. Even threatened its membership in the European Union when the Poland supported United States in its military company against Iraq. The Polish calculation was justified: security could only be provided by the United States through membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. The United States "pulled" Poland into both NATO membership and membership of the EU, thus condemning the Poles to almost 80% of the external debt, adding enormous loans.Consequently, with the collapse of the Warsaw Military Bloc, Poland implements two main pillars: the path to NATO membership and the path to EU membership. The pursuit of NATO has always been the number one priority. Since 1989, the Poles see the United States as the main guarantor of their national security. On the other hand, Washington itself was deeply interested in spreading influence on the post-Soviet bloc, looking for support points in it.Poland, which was not only a buffer in the early stages of NATO's expansion to the East, but also an active participant and "leader" of all other "democracies" in the Alliance's security space, proved to bethe backbone. The North Atlantic Alliance, a key component of the United States, has been cementing Polish-American security cooperation for decades. In 2010, on the initiative of Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Strategic Dialogue launched in 2004 was reinstated. Poland was admitted to NATO with the Czech Republic and Hungary in March 1999, while join- ing the European Union was delayed until May 2004. Poland's realization of the European vector of the Eastern policy of the EU, faced with Russia's severe opposition, considered it as an intervention in its sphere of influence, gave Poland the opportunity to strengthen its position in the EU and NATO. The base of missile interceptors should be built up in Poland and with them also other defence systems. Russian-Georgian war in the first half of August 2008 intensified the mentioned process. Poland went to meet the US, increasing its military contingent in Afghanistan...But new US president Obama declared that if he eliminated the threat of Iran's nuclear and missile program, then it would not make sense to continue to build a missile shield in Europe.22 known politicians from Eastern Europe (including four Poles) at 16th of July warning Obama to stop support Russia. As a result a bilateral agreement on the status of forces (so-called SOFA) was signed on December 11, in Warsaw. As a result of Russia's aggression against Ukraine – the United States has actively deployed military cooperation with Poland, providing 12 F-16 fighters from the base in Aviano and 200 personnel in spring 2014. The program also provides long-range missiles JASSM for the Polish F-16. In addition, cyber defence is currently underway. The bilateral dialogue on this issue is being held in regular meetings of the Advisory Group on Strategic Cooperation (SCCG) and the High Level Group on Security (HLDG).Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine dramatically changed the security situation around Poland and Europe at all. The concept introduces the expansion and unification of the European Union's Active Ballistic Missile Defence (ALTBMD) anti-missile defence system with American missile defence systems in Europe (radar in Turkey, bases in Romania and Poland, ships with Aegis systems in the Mediterranean).The priorities of Polish foreign policy was declared in March 2012 – in the new strategy of foreign policy. It was the first since 1989 a key document defining vectors of Polish diplomacy too. So "The strategy of Polish foreign policy 2017–2021" confirmed the priorities of the Polish state.

Railroad Workers, Civilization and Communism: the Young Men’s Christian Association on the Interwar Polish Frontier

This article seeks to present and analyze one of the aspects of the work of the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA or Y) in interwar Poland: the initiatives for railroad workers from eastern frontier towns and cities. Focusing on the efforts that the organization undertook on the territory commonly referred to as the Polish borderlands (Kresy), I show that for the leaders of the Y the work among the railway employees was of utmost political and civilizational importance. There were several reasons why the YMCA became involved in the railroad work on the eastern Polish borderlands. One of them was the looming threat of communism from neighboring Russia, another—the American Y leaders’ mythic perceptions of the U.S. moving frontier, which prompted them to adapt the American discourse on civilization to the Polish political and social situation. Using archival documents and recollections of Americans involved in the Y’s activities on the eastern Polish frontier I demonstrate how the perception of the Polish borderland by the Y’s secretaries was greatly influenced by myths deeply embedded in American culture. Drawing on the contemporary Polish press reports as well as writings of local collaborators of the YMCA, I also describe the reaction of Polish public opinion to the Y’s undertakings on the Polish frontier.

Religion, trade and trust in South‐East Poland

The village of Krasiczyn is located on the River San about ten kilometres west of Przemysl, once a Habsburg garrison in the centre of Galicia but since 1945 a medium-sized Polish frontier city: the Ukrainian border is a mere 10 kilometres to the east. Krasiczyn is dominated by its Renaissance castle, in the extensive grounds of which a tastefully modernised outbuilding now serves as a hotel and conference centre. This was the venue for an academic conference in October 1996 on the subject of 'Church Unions in Central and Eastern Europe: Ideals and Realities'.1 The scholars attending came from many European countries and from Canada and the United States. They included priests of different denominations and their expertise covered many disciplines, notably history, sociology, theology, anthropology and political science. This diverse gathering maintained a very cordial atmosphere, the climax of which was a festive supper on the last evening of the conference, at which the local Roman Catholic priest was an invited guest. Though not primarily a scholar, this priest was interested in the themes of the conference and well known in the public sphere in Przemysl for his efforts to improve mutual understanding between Poles and Ukrainians. He agreed with a visiting Greek Catholic priest (born in this area but for 40 years resident in Rome) that they should mark this unusual conference by celebrating mass together on the following morning, a Sunday. The local priest joked that together they would improvise a new, hybrid form of service, a fusion of the Latin (Roman) and Greek (Byzantine) rites. The rest of us turned up eagerly in the church the following morning. Everything about the building and its decoration epitomised Polish Latin styles. The service stuck closely to the modern Latin rite, although the visiting priest preached most of his sermon in Ukrainian. Both he and his Roman Catholic cocelebrant emphasised the need for Poles and Ukrainians to understand each other better. Not only were they one before God but, pointed out the local priest in his welcoming remarks, following the demise of socialism the two countries were increasingly dependent on each other economically. Without the new opportunities for cross-border commerce many families in and around Przemysl would face unemployment and severe hardship. All this, said the priest, needed to be placed in historical context, and the Church Unions which were the theme of our conference deserved to be seen as pioneering efforts to promote understanding and rapprochement. In 1996 Catholics were celebrating the 350th anniversary of the Union of Mukachevo and the 400th anniversary of the Union of Brest, which had brought many millions of Orthodox Christians into communion with Rome. As a few old men coughed and children

The "Miracle of the Vistula": Soviet Policy versus Red Army Strategy

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe "Miracle of the Vistula": Soviet Policy versus Red Army StrategyThomas FiddickThomas Fiddick Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Journal of Modern History Volume 45, Number 4Dec., 1973 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/241109 Views: 5Total views on this site Citations: 4Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1973 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: A Brief Institutional History of Central Europe (Part One): Poland and Its Political Institutions to 1989, (Sep 2016): 28–127.https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316282373.003David R. Stone Russo-Polish War (1919-1920), (Nov 2011).https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444338232.wbeow537James M. McCann Beyond the bug: Soviet historiography of the Soviet‐Polish war of 1920, Soviet Studies 36, no.44 (Nov 2007): 475–493.https://doi.org/10.1080/09668138408411550Theodor Schweisfurth Darstellung, (Jan 1979): 16–341.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-67245-3_2

An Anonymous Letter by Clausewitz on the Polish Insurrection of 1830-1831

Early in August 1831 Clausewitz wrote to his wife that a letter by him refuting claims that Prussia, in violation of her announced policy of nonintervention, was aiding Russian forces against the Polish insurgents, had appeared in several newspapers.' The literature on Clausewitz has ignored this hint, and yet the letter-the last of his writings to be published while he was alive-is worth resurrecting. At the time, it gave the German public a glimpse of Clausewitz's ideas on political affairs, which apart from this brief emergence were to remain buried in manuscript for another fifty years; to the later reader it suggests a change in emphasis of much of the political energy generated by the Prussian reform movement, which was to prove increasingly significant in the course of the century. The outbreak of the Polish insurrection at the end of November 1830 had caused Prussia to assemble an observation corps on the Polish frontier. To command this force her greatest military figure, Gneisenau, was recalled from retirement, and on his request Clausewitz was designated as his chief of staff. This returned to prominence two men who had been among the most uncompromising reformers in the years after Jena, and who subsequently were excluded from any position of influence for fear of their supposed Jacobinism. In the second week of December, Clausewitz arrived in Berlin, where he spent the next four months assisting in the partial mobilization of the army, drafting plans for its employment in possible campaigns east or west, and incidentally in clarifying his own thoughts on the political situation. Both his strategic planning and his political reflections benefited from his long-standing friendship with the minister of foreign afflairs, Bernstorff, whom during this period he seems to have seen every few days, and from his contacts with some of Bernstorff's senior officials, such as Eichhorn.2 When

Communism in Eastern Europe: Personal Impressions, 1961–1962

Socialist camp, a Polish frontier guard watched me through binoculars from a rough wooden tower, like a hunting box, on the shore. Somewhat to my surprise, I realized that the frontiers between the bloc members impeded not only travel, but also the passage of ideas and information, so that knowledge of what was happening in another Communist country was limited, even among intellectuals, to random and scattered information, gleaned from those foreigners and natives (mainly specialists) who had visited one or other of the neighbouring countries.

Negotiations leading to the Anglo-Polish agreement of 31 March 1939

The second World War was to find Germany and Italy as allies in a conflict in which their initial opponents were Britain, France and Poland. Italy did not immediately enter the war, but by the terms of the ‘pact of steel’ of 22 May 1939 she was to become a belligerent. The war broke out over the invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. The circumstances under which it arose were peculiar in one particular point, namely in that Great Britain entered the conflict directly and immediately as an ally of a power in eastern Europe. She had entered the wars of 1914 and of 1793 in a secondary manner—as an ally of powers already at war and over commitments which related primarily to western and central Europe. It was novel therefore that she should have become involved directly in a conflict relating to eastern Europe.If one had tried to predict, in 1919, the circumstances under which Britain would fight another war with Germany, few would have hazarded the opinion that she would choose the crossing of the Polish frontier as a casus belli. In addition, if one had, in 1938, tried also to predict Britain’s ally in an eventual conflict, Poland would have come towards the end of the list. Since 1934, Poland had generally been regarded as a power which was endeavouring to keep out of conflicts between Germany and the western powers—at least in the early stages of such a war. The relations between Berlin and Warsaw were, as from their agreement of 26 January 1934, surprisingly cautious; and the personal relations between leading Germans and Poles reflected—or so it appeared—the existence of such friendly relations. However, within a very short period after the Munich agreement of 30 September 1938, Britain was to become deeply involved in the defence of a frontier which British public opinion had previously regarded as the most open to criticism and revision of all the arrangements concluded at Versailles.

Teuton and Slav on the Polish Frontier

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL GAYRE has written a short study of the Germano-Polish problem in terms of physical and social anthropology. He has sought indeed to give as much information, explanation and comment by means of cartography as through the letterpress, since the book has more than forty maps and diagrams. Teuton and Slav on the Polish Frontier A Diagnosis of the Racial Basis of the Germano-Polish Borderlands and Suggestions for the Settlement of German and Slav Claims. By Lt.-Col. G. R. Gayre. Pp. 76 + 18 plates and 41 maps. (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode (Publishers), Ltd., 1944.) 8s. 6d. net.

Teuton and Slav on the Polish Frontier. A Diagnosis of the Racial Basis of the Germano-Polish Borderlands with Suggestions for the Settlement of German and Slav Claims

Teuton and Slav on the Polish Frontier. A Diagnosis of the Racial Basis of the Germano-Polish Borderlands with Suggestions for the Settlement of German and Slav Claims

SOME PROBLEMS OF WARTIME NEUROLOGY

The sound of marching feet across the Polish frontier in 1939 changed the world in which we lived, we who lived in the British empire. Exploding bombs in Pearl Harbor altered the outlook of the rest of the people in the world who use the English tongue. Although one may recognize that one's world has changed, it is not immediately evident to the individual what his own particular reorientation may be, where his own talents may be applied. Conscription and the training of troops who will march or sail away form only one aspect of war today. We, who have thought so little about war, are apt to have a rather hazy medieval conception that it signifies only a situation in which soldiers depart on a crusade which is carried through by an inevitably rising tide of patriotism. This point of view ignores the fact that today a civilian war