Post-communist Poland Research Articles

Is the Unspeakable Singable? The Ethics of Holocaust Representation and the Reception of Górecki's Symphony no.3

Debates about Holocaust representation have long been haunted by the idea that the enormity and intensity of human suffering in the events of World War Two are ‘unspeakable’. In many such statements the capacity for cognition and the ethical dimension of aestheticisation are blurred – the Holocaust is ‘unspeakable’ both in the sense of being impossible to imagine in its full horror, but also morally inappropriate as the subject of artistic production. But do all forms of cultural representation of the Holocaust fail in the same way as words or to the same degree, in the eyes of those who would judge their merits according the tenet of unspeakability? This paper considers one particularly renowned work Henryk Górecki’s symphony no. 3 (Symfonia pieśni żałosnych) of 1976, discussing how it mediated both the global politics of Holocaust representation and the recuperation of victimhood in postcommunist Poland. Górecki claimed a subjectivity of failure in response to the challenge of representing the events of World War Two and has insisted that the symphony is not about war but about sorrow. The vocal lyrics are nonetheless profoundly thematised around war suffering, and the Second World War in particular - events he approached with a musical language of epic, pathos and redemption. In framing the subject of his work, he emphasised a Polish national suffering that both eschewed mention of specifically targeted groups of victims, and beckoned to Polish folk and catholic traditions. This article presents a new hypothesis about the success of Górecki’s work by considering it in relation to the ethical debates about Holocaust empathic response that have occurred in relation to historiographic, literary and filmic representation.

From the Washington Consensus to the Brussels Consensus: Neoliberalisation by Depoliticisation in Post-Communist Poland

The issue of globalisation and its impact in Eastern Central Europe's (ECE) post-communist transition has at best been dealt with parsimoniously, and at worst long ignored, in both the Internationa...

Civic education in emerging democracies: Lessons from post-Communist Poland and Romania

The 1999 International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study revealed that most countries having recently undergone political and social transformations had lower civic knowledge scores than more stable nations. However, Poland, which instituted policies aimed at educating citizens for democratic participation after the fall of Communism, scored above international means. This article examines these educational policy initiatives and compares Poland with Romania, where fewer curricular initiatives were undertaken. Using 1999 IEA data, the article evaluates civic education’s potential for promoting civic knowledge in transitioning nations and finds that successful programs tend to pay attention to national context, provide for teacher professional development, engage students in active learning and collaborate with established democracies to create curricula. Other factors that might have contributed to the differing scores are also explored, including the two nations’ relative diversity, relationships with Western democracies, experiences under communism, and definitions of democracy.

Income and Happiness in Time of Post-Communist Modernization

This paper discusses the relations between economic development, family income, and happiness in post-communist Poland from the point of view of Inglehart’s theory of modernization. The happiness is understood as satisfaction with income and life, and as psychological well-being. The analysis of survey data yields the conclusion that economic development reduces the strength of the relations between income and satisfaction as well as between income and psychological well-being. These findings may be explained by changes in the value system from collectivist/materialist to individualist/post-materialist, even when these values are not directly measured. The analyzed data are from a series of representative surveys conducted in Poland during a period of political and economic transformation (i.e., between 1989 and 2008). Official statistical data on Polish economic development during the same period are used as a background for survey results. The relations between income and happiness change in Poland in a way consistent with Inglehart’s modernization theory.

Engaging residents in planning for sustainable rural-nature tourism in post-communist Poland

This study attempts to draw attention to environmentally, socially and economically sustainable tourism development as a tool with the potential to generate social capital based on development of local ties in Poland. It uses the interactional approach to community to discuss the possibility of enhancing actors' efficacy and the building of trust among the actors influenced by participatory planning for sustainable tourism development. The interactional approach to community allows for the observation of how the realization of such inclusive planning processes can help in pursuing interactions and therefore developing local relationships. Because of interactions a community is capable of pursuing joint action toward the wellbeing of a locality. Consequently the function of such processes is not limited to pure and effective planning for development, which is its explicit and conscious purpose. The task of the paper is to expose possible latent effects occurring within the tourism development framework.

Soviet war memorials and the re-construction of national and local identities in post-communist Poland

This article proposes to look afresh at the legacies of communism in urban spaces in post-1989 Poland. Specifically, it investigates the fate of Red Army monuments and explores how these public spaces have been used in the multifaceted and multileveled process of post-communist identity formation. The article suggests that Red Army monuments constitute sites for the articulation of new narratives about the country's past and future which are no longer grounded in the fundamental division between “us” (the nation) and “them” (the supporters of communism) and which are far from being fixed in the binary opposition of the banished and the embraced past. The reorganization of public memory space does not only involve contesting the Soviet past or affirming independence traditions but is rather the outcome of multilayered processes rooted in particularities of time and space. Moreover, the article argues that the dichotomy “liberator versus occupier,” often employed as a viable analytical tool by scholars investigating the post-communist memorial landscape, impedes our understanding of the role played by Soviet war memorials in the process of re-imagining national and local communities in post-1989 Eastern Europe.

Metamorphosis of Academic Libraries in Post-Communist Poland: Focusing on Access

Metamorphosis of Academic Libraries in Post-Communist Poland: Focusing on Access

Defending Biomedical Authority and Regulating the Womb as Social Space

The issue of abortion has been the topic of heated and frequent debate in post-Communist Poland. Parliamentary debate in 1998—9 centred around a legislative attempt to restrict prenatal testing, specifically amniocentesis, in order to further reduce the numbers of abortions carried out, as it was argued to inevitably result in the termination of pregnancy. Medical professionals are rarely visible as subjects of and authorities on the abortion debate in the Polish context. However, in this debate around prenatal testing, the medical community appear as key commentators and meaning-makers. This article asks the following questions: What role do the medical profession and biomedical knowledge play in the debate around prenatal testing, when abortion is highly politicized? Second, what social meanings and consequences are attributed to prenatal testing? How do these construct the relationship between foetus, pregnant woman and doctor, and what agency and 'rights' are attributed to women in the process of prenatal testing?

Politics of Time: Dynamics of Identity in Post-Communist Poland. By Leszek Koczanowicz. New York: Berghahn Books, 2008. xii, 181 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $39.95, hard bound.

Politics of Time: Dynamics of Identity in Post-Communist Poland. By Leszek Koczanowicz. New York: Berghahn Books, 2008. xii, 181 pp. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $39.95, hard bound. - Volume 69 Issue 1

Remembrance and Recovery: The Museum of the Warsaw Rising and the Memory of World War II in Post-communist Poland

Book Review| November 01 2009 Remembrance and Recovery: The Museum of the Warsaw Rising and the Memory of World War II in Post-communist Poland The Museum of the Warsaw Rising, Warsaw, Poland. Jan Ołdakowskidirector John Radzilowski John Radzilowski Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar The Public Historian (2009) 31 (4): 143–158. https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2009.31.4.143 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation John Radzilowski; Remembrance and Recovery: The Museum of the Warsaw Rising and the Memory of World War II in Post-communist Poland. The Public Historian 1 November 2009; 31 (4): 143–158. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/tph.2009.31.4.143 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe Public Historian Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2009 The Regents of the University of California and the National Council on Public History2009 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Freedom of Expression in Post-Communist Poland

This article exemplifies various instances of the right to freedom of expression being violated in Poland. The recent history of censorship in post-communist Poland reveals the ongoing confrontation between Catholicism and secularism. This paper discusses the intersections between religion, politics and freedom. The article argues that the separation of Church and State, although guaranteed by the Constitution, leaves much to be desired and that the Church continues to influence virtually every sphere of life. The article is divided into three parts, each examining a flagrant example of the suppression of freedom of expression. The first part investigates discriminatory attitudes towards homosexuals. It shows how the municipal authorities in Warsaw, Cracow and Poznań frequently refused to grant permission for Equality Marches and denied gay and lesbian activists the right to assembly. The officials resorted to arguments about the possible danger of public disorder or harm to public morals. This article argues, however, that the bans were dictated by ideological reasons. The second section discusses limitations on artistic freedom. It focuses particularly on Dorota Nieznalska'a ‘Passion’, an installation for which she was convicted. Her case emphatically illustrates that Polish legislation discriminates in favor of those citizens who identify themselves with some religious denomination, offering them tools to muzzle artists. Finally, the last part analyses the application of criminal libel laws as a weapon against journalists who criticize public figures. The 2005 verdict sentencing Jerzy Urban to a fine for insulting John Paul II, a foreign head of state, drew an avalanche of criticism, accusing Poland of violating international obligations and encouraging the country to refrain from applying criminal libel.

“The Past Is Never Dead”

This article presents a summary of analyses addressing the changing patterns of voting behavior in post-communist Poland as a context for examination of the issue of the relationship between regions defined by history (eighteenth-century partitions, border shifts after WWII) and contemporary forms of voting behavior. In the 1990s, the dominant cleavage in Polish politics was the one between the post-Solidarity and post-communist camps, and the best predictor of voting behavior was one’s religiosity. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, this cleavage has been replaced by another, between the liberal, pro-European orientation and the more Euro-skeptic, populist attitudes. The empirical evidence seems to suggest that one end of the populist—liberal continuum is relatively well defined and represents the traditional system of values, which defines Polish national identity in terms of ethnic nationalism, strong attachment to Catholic dogmas, and denunciation of communism as a virtual negation of those values. The other end of this continuum is defined more by rejection of this nationalistic-Catholic “imagined community” than by any positive features. This article examines the relative role of identity-related factors (e.g., religiosity or region) and determinants based on one’s socioeconomic (class) position in shaping voting patterns in the 2007 elections to the Polish Sejm and Senate. The empirical data come from a postelection survey, the Polish General Election Study 2007.

A Glimpse over the Rising Walls

The authors focus on societal perceptions of the Polish post-communist transformation as reflected in the rising discourse of gated communities. Guarded, (video-) controlled and/or walled housing estates have been on the sprawl in the Polish metropolises throughout the 1990s and 2000s. However, only recently they have been discursively constructed—under the banner of “gated communities”—as a social and political issue in the country. The authors look at this issue from a vantage point offered by Laclau and Mouffe's theory of discourse, which allows the authors to combine a spatial and a linguistic analytical perspective. The analysis emphasizes the manner in which societal perceptions of borders surrounding gated communities overlap with perceptions of boundaries being inscribed in the social structure of post-communist Poland, while the resulting socio—spatial configurations are taken to signify political cleavages inherent in the Polish nation.

Contestable constitutions: Ambiguity, conflict, and change in East Central European dual executive systems

This article investigates how ambiguous constitutional design affected president–cabinet relations and constitutional change in post-communist Poland and Hungary. Constitutional provisions related to the prerogatives of presidents and governments were frequently subject to political conflict during the 1990s. The power struggle in the two cases developed and consolidated along two distinct pathways. In Poland, failed attempts to modify the constitution initially stirred up and extended intra-executive conflicts. With the adoption of a new constitution in 1997 the struggle over power between president and council of ministers was finally settled. In Hungary constitutional court rulings were instrumental in the settlement of president–cabinet conflicts.

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland

Academic Library Transformation in the Post-Communist Poland. Warsaw University Library

This article examines the complex changes that have occurred in Polish academic libraries, focusing on University of Warsaw Library (UWL) after the fall of communism in 1989. An accelerated transformation of libraries begun shortly after the initiation of political and economical changes and was sped up by the series of grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation followed by Polish government funds. The library automation was the first major task for libraries. In preparation for automation the first in Poland authority file was created and thus the process of introducing and following international standards of bibliographic description in the climate of interlibrary cooperation had begun. As a part of transformation the open stacks and the Library of Congress classification were introduced for the first time in Poland in a newly constructed UWL building. A crowning achievement of transformation is the first Polish union catalog called, Narodowy Uniwersalny Katalog Centralny (NUKAT) launched in 2002.

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland By Genevieve Zubrzycki University of Chicago Press. 2006. 280 pages. $67.50 cloth, $27.50 paper

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland By Genevieve Zubrzycki University of Chicago Press. 2006. 280 pages. $67.50 cloth, $27.50 paper

In the front line: women, work and new spaces of labour politics in Poland

Pessimistic accounts of women's lives in post-communist Poland view women as powerless and passive victims of the transformation process. In contrast, this article argues that while political change and the restructuring of the economy have closed down some spaces of articulation and organisation, others have opened up. The article focuses on the way in which women in their spheres of work are shaping and actively resisting change through new organisations and individual and collective actions, which are in some ways a break with the past, but in other ways build on previous forms of activity. The work draws on qualitative research conducted over the last decade across Poland. This has coupled extensive interviews with women workers, national and regional trade union leaders, activists and feminists in a number of major Polish cities with reviews of Polish media and policy. We examine the economic and ideological context in which these new articulations are taking place, against the background of Poland's post-war communism and the rise of opposition movements. We look at the neoliberal restructuring of the economy and the implications for women within the labour market and in their domestic lives. In particular, we examine initiatives from below in workplace organisation, by focusing on new unions and new actions in the public sector, and the beginnings of organisation in the new areas of the economy such as supermarkets. Finally, we look at how women are articulating their interests beyond formal workplaces. We conclude that we should be optimistic about these new spaces of activism. While some are well established, others are embryonic but provide a strong foundation on which women can increase their participation in spaces that promote their varied interests.

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland. By Genevieve Zubrzycki

The Crosses of Auschwitz: Nationalism and Religion in Post-Communist Poland. By Genevieve Zubrzycki

How do green charges transform industrial behaviour? An explorative case study of institutionalisation and transition in post-Communist Poland

Based on three explorative case studies of industrial environmental practices in Poland, this paper examines how green charges alter the situated knowledge of companies' environmental managers. The study illustrates that following the Communist collapse, companies began to take the environmental authorities seriously because more severe enforcement and higher levels of green charges were implemented. However, the study also develops the hypothesis that environmental managers' comprehension of environmental problems is determined by the chemicals imposed with a duty.