Post-war Poland Research Articles

The Research Program on the Beginnings of the Polish State between Polish Western Thought and Historical Materialism: Structural Developments and Political Reorientation

Focussing on the development of organizational infrastructures, financial constitutions as well as staffing policies of the research program on the beginnings of the Polish state and discussing them in relation to the political framework of post-war Poland, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of the general preconditions and requirements. Presenting information from archival documents and a close reading of the steps and forms archaeological contributions to the millennial theme have taken, it tries to retrace the development of its thematic and conceptual orientation. This development is presented here as reorientation from a starting point within the realm of the Poznan intellectual centre and thus the Polish Western Thought towards a Warsovian centralization and the implementation of Marxist methodology and, officially at least, Stalinist ideology.

Architectural Reconstructions in post-war Poland

Abstract The article is an attempt at identifying the positive and negative effect the decisions to reconstruct monuments made immediately following the end of World War II and that of reconstructing Warsaw’s Royal Castle made 25 years after the war had on the perception of monuments and the historical value of the urban tissue. It is in this perspective that the reconstruction cases performed in Poland after 1989 (namely after the collapse of Communism) and their social impact are analyzed. The examples which are both negative: falsifying historical knowledge and insulting aesthetical criteria, as well as positive: manifesting high instructive values, are pointed to. Moreover, the question is asked how it is possible that in the 21st century people are attracted to the idea of reconstructing monuments which were not destroyed in the course of World War II, but significantly earlier. In Poland, for instance, a political idea has been recently conceived to reconstruct several dozen mediaeval castles ruined in the 17th century

Śladami żołnierzy Obwodu Jędrzejowskiego Armii Krajowej 1939-1956

Following the Footsteps of the Soldiers of the Jędrzejów District of the Home Army in the Years 1939-1956. Part 1: The Conspiracy in KarolówkaThe family of Przemysław Janoff (Janów), a forester and administrator of the forests and goods of the landowner Górski family, has lived since 1936 in Motkowice, a small town located 14 km east of Jędrzejów. The forest lodge Karolówka became a center of underground activity during the German occupation. Przemysław Janoff, codename „Stary”, together with his son Sergiusz, codename „Set”, soldiers of the Union of Armed Struggle, and later of the Home Army, acted in the intelligence, sabotage and reception of airdrop. They also organized transfers, stored weapons, and conducted radio monitoring. In the forest lodge, secret classes were organized and people sought by the Gestapo were protected. An unknown part of the family’s activity was the action of helping Jews by creating the first link of the „chain of life”. The Janoff family hid Jews from the Jędrzejów ghetto, who, after a short stay in hiding, were later transported to safe places. The aid campaign for the Jewish doctor Hirsch Beer in Jędrzejów was the only one mentioned in historical literature. Since 1943 Sergiusz Janoff „Set” carried out the underground tasks together with Andrzej Ropelewski, codename „Karaś”, and in 1944, when participating in the armed actions of a sabotage group, he met with brothers Wesołowski - Leszek, codename „Strzała” and Wiesiek, codename „Orzeł”, guerillas from the „Barabasz” and later the „Spaleni” group. Common experiences made young people friends for the rest of their lives. The basic thread of the article is the story of four friends shown against the background of the underground and armed activities of the poviat level of the Home Army. Mentioning the details of the biographies of the protagonists and many other characters aims to convey the realities of the underground everyday life and the atmosphere of the German occupation. A study of the characters, attitudes and choices of Home Army soldiers during the war gives rise to reflection on their fate in post-war Poland. This article is therefore a fragment of a larger undertaking and aims at initiating a cycle of publications. Unknown facts and those already described which required verification were examined on the basis of new historical sources and re-analysis of the already known ones.

Komisje Specjalne przy Komitetach Żydowskich w Polsce – aspekt geograficzny

Artykuł dotyczy Komisji Specjalnej, żydowskiej organizacji paramilitarnej, utworzonej po pogromie w Kielcach (4 lipca 1946 r.) w celu samoobrony ludności żydowskiej. Istniała zaledwie przez niecały rok, ale miała istotny wpływ na stabilizację życia tej społeczności w powojennej Polsce. W założeniu jej oddziały tworzono przy Komitetach Żydowskich, jednak nie zawsze konsekwentnie, w związku z czym wytworzyła własny podział administracyjny, różniący się nieznacznie od stworzonego przez żydowski samorząd zrzeszony w Centralnym Komitecie Żydów w Polsce (CKŻP). W artykule przedstawiono specyfikę geograficznego zasięgu działania Komisji Specjalnych.

Polscy uczestnicy hiszpańskiej wojny domowej

Polscy ochotnicy odegrali stosunkowo znaczącą rolę w hiszpańskiej wojnie domowej. Przytłaczająca większość z nich walczyła po stronie republikańskiej. Przyjmuje się, że było ich ok. 4,5–5 tys. (wśród ok. 35 tys. żołnierzy Brygad Międzynarodowych). Ok. 75% stanowili emigranci, głównie mieszkający we Francji, w znacznym stopniu działacze lub sympatycy Francuskiej Partii Komunistycznej. Prawdopodobnie tylko ok. 600–800 osób (według niektórych danych 1200) przybyło bezpośrednio z Polski, wśród nich zdecydowanie przeważali komuniści (80% lub więcej). Najwięcej polskich ochotników walczyło w szeregach XIII Brygady „Jarosław Dąbrowski”, która brała udział w większości kluczowych operacji wojny i poniosła ogromne straty (prawdopodobnie 30–40%). Prawdopodobnie kilkudziesięciu Polaków uczestniczyło w wojnie po stronie narodowej (frankistowskiej). Większość z nich stanowili jednak zawodowi żołnierze hiszpańskiej Legii Cudzoziemskiej, którzy wstąpili do niej przed wybuchem wojny, zatem ich udział w wojnie nie miał charakteru ideowego. W artykule w syntetyczny sposób ukazano portret polskich uczestników wojny walczących po obu stronach konfliktu, wskazując także na przyczyny skromnego zaangażowania po stronie narodowej. Przeanalizowano oblicze i szlak bojowy Brygady „Jarosław Dąbrowski” i innych „polskich” oddziałów armii republikańskiej, przedstawiono biogramy ważniejszych dowódców. Wiele miejsca poświęcono losom „dąbrowszczaków” w okresie II wojny światowej i w powojennej Polsce, starając się ukazać ich specyficzne i zmieniające się miejsce w systemie politycznym PRL.

Bazaars and Found Objects: Thing Culture in Post-war Poland

Because of the specific political and economic situation, in the period immediately after World War II Poland was characterized by a low standard of living, difficulties in obtaining supplies of basic products, limited opportunities to travel abroad and the arrival of foreign aid packages which fueled consumer desires. This paper explores how clothes were used and valued at a time of shortage, and particularly the way that the bazaar was seen as “a seedbed of fashion and elegance.” This research explores the Polish bazaars as a manifestation of Elaine Freedgood’s concept of “thing culture,” contrasted with “commodity culture” in her The Ideas in Things (2006). Using three different examples from diverse parts of post-war Poland, the paper explores how people experienced the “thingness” of clothes in a period of extreme hardship. Even in times of austerity, clothes were much more than simple commodities.

Witold Urbanowicz. Polski pallotyn-artysta w Paryżu

The article is devoted to the selected aspects of the work of Witold Urbanowicz, a Pallottine monk, living and creating in France for the last couple of decades. His multi-threaded creation in the realm of painting, sculpture and stained glass is analyzed in the context of the first monographic exhibition (2 June – 30 September 2017, The District Museum in Suwałki (Muzeum Okregowe w Suwałkach))Ever since his first years in Paris, where Urbanowicz came in 1972, the artist was one of the members of the editorial team of the Pallottine publishing house Editions du Dialogue as well as of lecture-discussion centre Centre du Dialogue, founded by reverend Josef Sadzik. The mentioned centre, until the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 was the main centre of Polish cultural life in France as well as the most important meeting point with politicians, researchers and artists.Living in the heart of Paris, in the Gathering Home of Pallottines at 25 rue Surcouf, Witold Urbanowicz SAC met numerous people important in Polish culture, literature and art, both those who still worked in the post-war Poland as well as the ones who had no intention of returning to the post-Yalta Poland after 1945.The article points out the clues and directions crucial to the understanding of Urbanowicz's artistic output, which did not appear out of the blue and without impulses and inspiration coming from the surrounding environment. This painter, sculptor and stained glass artist may not have always been aware of the fact that the shifts and evolution in both formal and stylistic aspects of his creative expression were influenced by the style of various artists living in France and attending the Pallottine Centre; those included Josef Czapski, Alina Szapocznikow or Jan Lebenstein, who in 1970 completed his stained-glass series 'Apocalypse', embellishing the lecture hall of the Centre, which doubles as a chapel in the Pallottine Home in Paris.

„Cały kraj serdecznie wita swego pierwszego obywatela”. Przebieg obchodów 60. rocznicy urodzin Bolesława Bieruta na łamach „Trybuny Ludu”

<p>W Polsce powojennej czołową postacią był Bolesław Bierut, prezydent RP w latach 1947–1952, od 1948 r. I sekretarz Komitetu Centralnego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej. W rozprawie podjęto temat propagandowego obrazu obchodów 60. rocznicy urodzin Bieruta, ukazanego w artykułach „Trybuny Ludu”, naczelnym organie prasowym PZPR. W dniach 18–19 kwietnia 1952 r. opublikowano 30 wzmianek poświęconych obchodom, w tym listy gratulacyjne i potwierdzenia wykonania zobowiązań podjętych dla uczczenia wydarzenia przez zakłady pracy i osoby prywatne. Oficjalne ceremonie miały stanowić element kultu jednostki Bieruta. Widoczne są także podobieństwa z uroczystościami związanymi z osobą Józefa Stalina, które wpłynęły na krajowe obchody, a poszczególne etapy przygotowań były nawiązaniem do rytuału odbywającego się na Kremlu. Opis przedstawianych wydarzeń był przesiąknięty propagandą wzorowaną na tej rozpowszechnionej w Związku Radzieckim. Celem było pokazanie, w jak uroczysty sposób społeczeństwo czciło rocznicę, wizja ta nie była jednak bezkrytycznie przyjmowana przez czytelników.</p>

Українська тематика у повоєнному польському ігровому кіно до 1989 року

Українська тематика у повоєнному польському ігровому кіно до 1989 року

Tematyka ukraińska w powojennym polskim filmie fabularnym do 1989 roku

Tematyka ukraińska w powojennym polskim filmie fabularnym do 1989 roku

O Jerzym Mierzejewskim

About Jerzy Mierzejewski For many years the excellent painter-formist Jerzy Mierzejewski (1917-2012) was the eminent figure of artistic life in postwar Poland. He was also an academic, a professor at the famous Film School in Łodź. The article presents the significance of Mierzejewski in paving the path for Polish cinematographic art and for the international successes of many Polish filmmakers (i.e. Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, Adam Holender, Krzysztof Zanussi, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Zbigniew Rybczynski and many others).

Peryferie stanu wojennego? — casus województwa sieradzkiego

Peripheries of Martial Law? — the Case of the Voiovdeship of Sieradz The presented text intends to describe breakthrough events and processes in the socio–political history of post–war Poland from the viewpoint of terrains located along the peripheries of the chief current of events of the period. The author wondered to what extent could the paradigm of universal resistance against the communist authorities be applied in regions situated outside the prime centres of contestation. In doing so, he transferred his reflections to the reality of the marital law period and the range of the former voivodeship of Sieradz. The point of departure for the ensuing deliberations is a depiction of the specificity of a totally agricultural area, only slightly urbanised, and with no structure of the pre–August opposition. Next, the author considered the period of the ”Solidarity Revolution” in those terrains, and, finally, concentrated his attention on analysing phenomena that can be regarded as a symptom of social resistance against the governance of the Military Council of National Salvation (WRON). The text ends with an attempt at a balance sheet of the described phenomena, conducted with the help of the social sciences, i.e. the conception of “group contestation”.

Affect and Nostalgia in Eva Hoffman’s Lost in Translation

Abstract This article examines the affective terrain of Poland, Canada, and the US in Eva Hoffman’s autobiographical account of her migration and exile in Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (1989), the text that launched Hoffman’s reputation as a writer and intellectual. Hoffman’s Jewish family left Poland for Vancouver in 1959, when restrictions on emigration were lifted. Hoffman was 13 when she emigrated to Canada, where she lived until she went to college in the US and began her career. Lost in Translation represents her trajectory in terms of “Paradise,” “Exile,” and “The New World,” and the narrative explicitly thematizes nostalgia. While Hoffman’s nostalgia for post-war Poland has sometimes earned censure from critics who draw attention to Polish anti-Semitism and the failings of Communism, this article stresses how Hoffman’s nostalgia for her Polish childhood is saturated with self-consciousness and an awareness of the politics of remembering and forgetting. Thus, Hoffman’s work helps nuance the literary and critical discourse on nostalgia. Drawing on theories of nostalgia and affect developed by Svetlana Boym and Sara Ahmed, and on Adriana Margareta Dancus’s notion of “affective displacement,” this article examines Hoffman’s complex understanding of nostalgia. It argues that nostalgia in Lost in Translation is conceived as an emotion which offers the means to critique cultural practices and resist cultural assimilation. Moreover, the lyricism of Hoffman’s autobiography becomes a mode for performing the ambivalence of nostalgia and diasporic feeling.

Dziki Zachód, dziki Wschód. Western a sprawa polska

The article reconstructs poetics and politics of Polish westerns, focussing on the two most re-nowned examples of the genre: The Law and the Fist (1964) or The Wolves' Echoes (1968). They are set in the western or eastern borderlands of post-war Poland (1945–1948) and depict the struggles of righteous militiamen against plunderers and looters. The analysis is based on classical theories formulated by A. Bazin, J. Kitses and W. Wright and aims to highlight hidden contradic-tions between the rules of film genre, the requirements of veracity, and propagandist manipula-tion. These movies reinforce the official politics of memory of the Polish People’s Republic. The Law and the Fist contribute to the discourse on the ‘Recovered Territories’ and renew the Piast concept of returning these territories to the traditional Polish homeland. In turn, The Wolves' Echoes shapes the collective memory of the Bieszczady Mountains and justifies ethnic homogene-ity of this borderland.

Wpływ Kodeksu pracy na przemiany w zakresie regulacji niektórych stosunków materialnych i procesowych nominatów ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem urzędników służby cywilnej

The article studies the impact of the Labour code on regulations concerning the employment of civil servants. The employment in civil service, based on the Act of 1922 (in force until the end of 1974), had a public law character. Disputes involving civil servant were settled in accordance with the administrative procedure. The acts of law concerning civil service adopted in the post-war Poland took over many legal institutions from the 1922 act (e.g. suspension in duties, stability of employment, disciplinary responsibility), however treated them as contractual in character rather than public. Under the influence of the Labour code, the status of civil servants gradually become similar to the common status of contract-based employees. This also concerned the disputes, which were referred to the jurisdiction of labour courts. Some components of the status retained their public law character. In such cases, the administrative court is competent.

Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa – szkic do rozważań o laicyzacji państwa

People’s Republic of Poland – a Sketch for Reflections about the Laicization of the State The intention of this text was to ponder on, and attempt to resolve questions whether and to what degree did the laicization policy and atheization campaign conducted by successive political teams in Poland after the Second World War contribute to and accelerate the Dechristianization of Polish society, a process discernible also in other Europe states. What factors (political, social, economic, cultural, etc.) favoured such processes and what sort delayed or outright hampered them? What was the role performed by the Polish Episcopate and its long-term head – Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, the Primate of Poland, who intentionally did not hasten the transference onto Polish ground of the accomplishments of the Second Vatican Council? Another significant issue involved the character and intensity of the processes in question. Did they contribute to the modernization of the state and society or, on the contrary, did they conserve their former structure? The author paid considerable attention to the mutual Church–state relations in communist-ruled Poland. It cannot be said that at any time during this period did they resemble those between partners, albeit they indubitably evolved. Such transformations were the consequence of both the internal situation and changes transpiring on the international arena. The foremost premise of all vicissitudes affecting the relations between the Church and the state in post-war Poland (the election of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla as Pope, 1978) possessed both domestic and international dimensions.

The absent ‘Others’: A comparative study of memories of displacement in Poland and Ukraine

The article is a comparative study of memories concerning displacement and the violence which accompanied it in post-war Poland and Ukraine. On the basis of case studies of two small, local communities, I attempt to answer how the inhabitants of townships which suffered mass displacement remember those who were exiled – the Others. Analysing biographical narratives of the oldest generation of deportees, I describe strategies for dealing with difficult memories, such as the tabooing of violence and the externalisation of guilt. In order to explain the differences between narratives from the two towns, I draw upon factors known to shape biographical memory, such as the individual biographical experience, local and national cultures of memory, remembrance practices and contacts with other biographical memories.

Działalność Komitetu Zakładowego Polskiej Zjednoczonej Partii Robotniczej przy WUBP/WUdsBP w Gdańsku w latach 1949–1956

The Activity of the Site Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party at the Voivodeship Office for Public Security in Gdańsk in 1949–1956In its capacity as a mass–scale organisation the Communist Party functioned in all large workplaces in post–war Poland. For this reason, a Party committee was established also alongside public security offices (i.e. in Gdańsk), where the highest– ranking body was the Site Committee, whose subordinates included basic (POP) and departmental (OPP) organisations and Party groups. The titular Party cell was not, however, typical, and protocols from its sittings (to 1955) were sent directly to the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers Party in Warsaw (until 1953 the Voivodeship Committee in Gdańsk did not even receive their copies), while general Party membership statistics did not encompass security apparatus employees.The Site Committee did not interfere in assorted operations, mentioned extremely rarely. It resembled rather a sui generis trade union, whose members could not include employees holding military full time jobs. The sessions discussed social questions, discipline or the organisation of the leisure time of the staff and their families. The Committee forum also served as a tool for the indoctrination of the functionaries.

Book Reviews

Women, Communism, and Industrialization in Postwar Poland by Małgorzata Fidelis Barbara Klich-Kluczewska The Politics of Gender Culture under State Socialism: An Expropriated Voice by Hana Havelková and Libora Oates-Indruchová (eds.) Gabriela Dudeková Gendered Artistic Positions and Social Voices: Politics, Cinema, and the Visual Arts in State-Socialist and Post-Socialist Hungary by Beata Hock Philip Mann Staging Socialist Femininity: Gender Politics and Folklore Performance in Serbia by Ana Hofman Kristen Ghodsee Kohle für Stalin und Hitler: Arbeiten und Leben im Donbass 1929 bis 1953 (Coal for Stalin and Hitler. Working and living in the Donets basin 1929 to 1953) by Tanja Penter Susan Zimmermann Bytovoe nasilie v istorii rossiiskoi povsednevnosti (XI–XXI vv.) (Domestic violence in the history of Russian everyday life [XI–XXI vv.]) by Marianna G. Muravyeva and Natalia L. Pushkareva, (eds.) Barbara Alpern Engel Domestic Frontiers: Gender, Reform, and American Interventions in the Ottoman Balkans and the Near East, 1831–1908 by Barbara Reeves-Ellington Rhoda Semple Zhenite v modernostta (Women in modernity) by Reneta Roshkeva and Nikolai Nenov (eds.) Amelia Licheva Physical Anthropology, Race and Eugenics in Greece (1880s–1970s) by Sevasti Trubeta Christian Promitzer Nezvychaini doli zvychainykh zhinok: Usna istoria XX stolittia (The extraordinary lives of ordinary women: Oral history of the twentieth century) by Iroida Wynnytsky (ed.) Oksana Kis

Modification of the legal basis of the activity of religious orders in Poland introduced by the communist authorities in 1949

This study casts light on the circumstances and effects of changes to the legal acts defining the legal framework of the activities of religious orders in post-war Poland. Until 1949, religious orders had not been covered by the regulations on the creation and legalization of secular associations. Pursuant to the decree of 5 August 1949, however, they were obligated to comply with the provisions of the Law on Associations. Failure to apply for the registration resulted in the dissolution of the order and the forfeiture of its assets by the state. Still, despite the submission of the applications as provided by law, the authorities refused to registered orders and did not maintain an official register of such entities, either. In point of fact, the communist regime only intended to develop such a legal context in which the law might be used as a tool of repression against religious orders. The actual aim of the 1949 amendment was not the intent to clarify the legal status of religious orders, which remained uncertain in the aftermath of the Resolution of the Provisional Government of National Unity of 12 September 1945 invalidating the 1925 Concordat. The authorities only intended to establish a strict state control over religious organizations and, by extension, gradually reduce their activity until their complete disappearance from public life. The content relies primarily on the analysis of the legislation and archival material gathered in the state and ecclesiastical archives in Poland.