Warsaw Uprising Research Articles

Media and the sacralization of history

This article presents an analysis of the process of sacralization of history in the media discourse. Certain events and figures from the past are incorporated into the sphere of sacrum which excludes any discussion and maintains the domination of one narration of history. The process of sacralization may take places directly or indirectly. The first relies on direct inclusion to the discourse of certain words, which are associated with religion. The indirect sacralization takes place when episodes from the past are changed into universal stories of fight between the good and the evil. The analysis is performed on printed media discourses concerning three events from Poland’s contemporary history: the 1920 Warsaw Battle of Warsaw, the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and the postwar armed underground.

Poszukiwania i fascynacje Antoniego Bohdziewicza (1906-1970)

The quests and fascinations of Antoni Bohdziewicz (1906-1970) The author analyses in detail the structure of the leading role based on the film “I’m yours” His analysis takes into account acting skills, the relations between the protagonists and adversaries and also cinematic time and space. He appreciates the role played by the screenwriter and establishes the principles for cooperation between actors and the director. The author analyses in detail the structure of the leading role based on the film “I’m yours” His analysis takes into account acting skills, the relations between the protagonists and adversaries and also cinematic time and space. He appreciates the role played by the screenwriter and establishes the principles for cooperation between actors and the director. This article is devoted to the director Antoni Bohdziewiczs creative output and teaching work at the Łodź Film School, to commemorate the 110th anniversary of his birth. The author presents Bohdziewiczs early days as a director at Polish Radio in Vilnius, and also his work as a film critic. A significant moment in Bohdziewiczs life was his leaving for Paris on a scholarship on Prof. Wladyslaw Tatarkiewicz’ recommendation, where he produced several short films. On returning to Poland, Bohdziewicz enjoyed success mainly as a reporter for Polish Radio and also as the co-founder of the Imagination Theatre (Teatr Wyobraźni). When war broke out he got involved in underground activities, becoming one of the organisers recording the events of the Warsaw Uprising on film. Bohdziewiczs post-war activities were significantly affected by his appearance at the Filmmakers’ Congress in Wisla (1949), at which he spoke out against introducing the ideas of socialist realism. Bohdziewicz never felt fulfilled as a director, despite producing several films, including documentaries, feature films based on contemporary themes and literary adaptations. His true passion remained his lecturing work at the Łodź Film School. The article quotes many of his pupils and protegees, including Andrzej Wajda, Janusz Majewski, Kazimierz Kutz, who saw him as their master, and their artistic and spiritual guide through those times. Without exception they emphasise how Bohdziewicz lived solely for the School. In his later years he was strongly associated with the Film Discussion Club movement; he occasionally worked in theatre, wrote, and taught at the INSAS Film School in Brussels. With hindsight and from his pupils’ remembrances, it becomes clear just how invaluable his teaching work at the Łodź Film School was

Barbara Gołajewska-Chudzikiewicz, Świat, którego już nie ma

The biographical account of Barbara Gołajewska-Chudzikiewicz was recorded in 2007 as a part of the documentary project “The Forgotten Witnesses to the 20th century” run by the KARTA Centre and the History Meeting House. The narrator tells the story of her life, as well as the story of her family, starting in 1918. As the material is very extensive, in this publication only the fragments regarding the years 1918–1945 are presented. The narrative, in a manner typical for landed gentry of the Kielce region, contains a description of Ms Gołajewska-Chudzikiewicz’s childhood and family life in a small landed estate of Bieganów in the times of the Second Polish Republic. It gives insight into the course of her education, upbringing of children and young people in a landowning family, relations between the servants and the landowners, everyday life in the manor house, along with civilization difficulties, celebrating of holidays, the manor-village relations, and finally the general way the landed family functioned between the countryside and the city. The next important part of the narrative starts with the outbreak of WWII and conveys the everyday life of the manor under German occupation in the General-Government. The narrator describes the functions of the Polish manor in occupation conditions: helping and giving shelter to those displaced from the territories incorporated to the Third Reich, helping the Warsaw Uprising fugitive fighters, active participation in the Home Army structures, and relations with the German invader, as well as food and clothes extortions run by armed groups of unknown provenance, and confrontation with the Soviet army entering from the East.

The Warsaw Uprising as presented in chosen German newspapers

The Warsaw Uprising as presented in chosen German newspapers

Ponowoczesna wizja Powstania Warszawskiego w filmie Jana Komasy Miasto 44

The Postmodern Vision of the Warsaw Uprising in Jan Komasa’s City 44 City 44 (2014) by Jan Komasa presents an original vision of the Warsaw Uprising – especially when compared to other historical productions. Both formal aspects of the film and the way its presents the uprising expose its postmodern character. Th e conclusion that City 44 can be interpreted by means of key postmodern concepts is based on an analysis of its visual aspects, such as scenes operating at the edge of realism and aff ectation, and aesthetic denominators taken from all genres, as well as pop culture references, intertextuality, and the subjective vision of the uprising based on the story of two main protagonists.

Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising

Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising

Wschodnioeuropejscy ochotnicy cudzoziemscy w niemieckich oddziałach Ostheer, SS i policji pacyfikujących Powstanie Warszawskie. Casus „własowców”, Kałmuków i SS Galizien...

East European Foreign Volunteers in German Ostheer, SS, and Police Divisions Pacifying the Warsaw Uprising. The Case of the “Vlasovites”, Kalmuks, and SS Galizien… The intention of this article is to bring the reader closer to a little–known aspect of foreign forces used by the Germans in the pacification of the Warsaw Uprising. The author was especially interested in tackling myths concerning the participation of Kalmuks, the Ukrainians serving in the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, and the so–called Vlasovites in battles waged against the insurgents. The article describes the emergence of foundations serving a myth about the part played by the above–listed nationalities in combatting the Warsaw Uprising. The Germans deployed all available police, SS, and Wehrmacht forces to eliminate danger in the direct war front hinterland of the 9th Army. Nonetheless, Wehrmacht commanders did not take over divisions fighting in Warsaw. This standstill in the command structures was exploited by Himmler, who appointed SS–Obergruppenfuhrer und General der Waffen–SS und der Polizei Erich von dem Bach as commander. The article discusses the engagement of the “hiwi”, “osttruppen”, and “ostlegionen” mosaic deployed by the Germans during the pacification of the Warsaw Uprising and composed of Russians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians, Cossacks, Turkmens, Azeris, etc. The reason for this state of things was the lack of sufficient forces, although ultimately the resistance of the insurgents was crushed by German panzer divisions. From the very beginning a foremost role in slaying the inhabitants of Warsaw was played by the Germans (police, gendarmerie, and the SS), responsible for the deaths of many more victims than those killed by former Soviet citizens, despite all post–war attempts at transferring the guilt to divisions collaborating with the Third Reich. Stifling the Warsaw Uprising (and the Slovak National Uprising) proved to be the apogee of the German anti–partisan campaign, part of the bloody Bandenbek a mpfung tactic.

Heroes, Victims, Role Models: Representing the Child Soldiers of the Warsaw Uprising

This article explores narratives surrounding child soldiers in Poland, with a particular focus on the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. My discussion examines a variety of contexts in which this figure appears, such as urban spaces, press debates, popular literature, and educational games, and unpacks the taboos associated with cultural constructions of childhood. The article points to the complex interaction between the enduring narratives of resistance and the struggle for independence which characterize Poland and the international humanitarian discourse on the use of children in war which goes beyond the local context. More generally, I show that the representations of Warsaw's young insurgents speak less of the children and their rights and more of contemporary notions of Polish national identity, the nation's wished-for or projected development, and collective hopes and fears in the wake of its accession to the European Union.

Powstanie Warszawskie w opiniach wybranych niemieckich gazet

The Warsaw Uprising in the Opinions of Select German NewspapersAn uprising caused by the “demons of Polish patriotism”, much despised by the Germans, broke out in Warsaw in August 1944. Its historical assessment still continues to be the topic of constant polemics and differences of opinion. Nonetheless, no one has up to this day conducted a complete analysis of the attitude of the German press propaganda. The presented text is an attempt to bring the reader closer to various trends of German reflections pertaining to an issue of great importance to the Poles. In order to learn about such views the author examined German newspapers so as to cite their accounts of the Uprising. Regardless of the goals assumed by the Polish Underground leaders, the Germans welcomed the Uprising as a quirk of fate. On the other hand, they dealt with a serious obstacle since they planned to turn Warsaw, facing the encroaching Soviet offensive, into a centre of resistance similar to Stalingrad. In view of the fact that the Uprising broke out in the afternoon of 1 August, German newspapers did not contain any pertinent information on that day. At the same time (30 July 1944) Stanisław Mikołajczyk arrived in Moscow, counting on the fact that the Uprising would serve as a strong argument in talks held with Stalin. German newspapers noted this visit with great attention already on 2 August 1944, aptly describing Stalin’s activity vis a vis a sovereign nation. Apparently, they were capable of defining and describing surrounding reality. They also took this opportunity to bemoan the fact, while referring to the Portuguese press, that in 1939 Poland did not join forces with Germany against Russia. This view was a distinct allusion to the anti–Russian aspect of the Uprising with which the Germans were indubitably familiar. On 4 August 1944 one would still seek in vain in the German press any mention of the movement dynamically progressing in Warsaw. On 6 August German newspapers concentrated their attention on heavy battles in Normandy, seemingly oblivious to any sort of problems in the Polish town on the Vistula. On 15 August the German press informed about numerous battles waged along assorted fronts, mentioning the threat posed to Warsaw by ”Russian–Bolshevik” units encroaching from the East – the reader came across first news about developments in Warsaw at odds with the interests of the Third Reich. After all, how else could information about the western banks of the Vistula be justified at a time when the Red Army and the Polish People’s Army were approaching from the East and a long distance still separated them from the river banks.The first distinctive allusion to the Uprising appeared in the analysed newspapers on 17 August, while successive days offered an increasing number of articles on the subject.The press started to rapidly inform about the stifling of the Uprising and the fact that its outbreak and defeat could become an “indirect Katyn” for Poland and the town’s inhabitants, for which German propaganda suddenly began to show concern. At the same time, it is worth drawing attention to the fact that the insurgents were described as “bands from Warsaw” or “Polish bandits”, thus dehumanising the opponent. The number of more or less precise information about the outbreak of the Uprising and the course of its first days grew from the end of the second decade of August. At the beginning of September questions about those responsible for the collapse of the upsurge in Warsaw were posed together with in–between–lines information about heavy battles waged across the town. At the same time, mention was made of the fact that Allied airplanes returning from Airlift missions to Warsaw were prohibited to land on Soviet airfields. In many cases, texts in the German press disclosed, probably even contrary to the intentions of the war correspondents and the journalists, the heroism of the insurgents and their will to struggle and live in a free city and a free country. Warsaw – Symbol and Warning, a text published in ”Völkischer Beobachter” 0n 29 September, summed up opinions about the Uprising, accentuating the absurdity of an operation that, not consulted with the Allies and at odds with Soviet political interests, was doomed from the onset. The article also emphasised the perfidy of the Allies who abandoned the population of Warsaw, waging a solitary battle, and of the Soviet side, which attempted at all cost to have the Uprising stifled by Germany. The analysed fragments did not provide detailed information about the number of civilian fatalities. According to the presented texts all responsibility went to the leaders of the Uprising, headed by General Bór, and the authorities of the Republic in exile.

Andrew Ciechanowiecki (1924–2015)

With the death of Count Andrew Ciechanowiecki, one of the most significant figures in the world of sculpture during the second half of the twentieth century has been lost to us, someone whose influence on both collecting and scholarship was profound. His legacy lives on to this day, in the many paintings and sculptures which through his agency entered museums in Britain, the United States and Continental Europe, through his work as a scholar-dealer at Mallett and at the Heim Gallery, and through his encouragement of and friendship towards curators and scholars, not least as a vice-president of the PMSA for many years.Andrew Ciechanowiecki was born in 1924, to a noble family which had been settled in Byelorussia since the sixteenth century, but which had been expelled by the Bolsheviks in 1918, with their great house near Minsk being subsequently destroyed. His life was to be deeply affected by the many disasters visited on his native Poland throughout much of the twentieth century. His aristocratic origins were reflected in a patrician, always slightly formal, but invariably exquisitely courteous manner, emblematic of Mitteleuropa at its best. His early years were comfortable enough, as he was brought up by his British grandmother, whose house in Warsaw became known among friends as 'the permanent British Embassy'. However, he and his family lost everything remaining to them when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. His schooling, including his first studies in the history of art, had to be completed in the most unpropitious circumstances, in the underground schools established by the Polish resistance. He subsequently himself took part in the failed Warsaw Uprising in 1944. Brought up to speak four languages fluently, Ciechanowiecki at first hoped to make a career as a diplomat, but it quickly became evident, as the Communist party took power in Poland after the end of the war, that his background would be a fatal impediment. He took degrees in economics and in history of art at Cracow, but in 1950 was arrested for 'Anglo-American-Vatican contacts' and spent the next six years in prison.On release in 1956, he returned to his academic studies, winning in 1958 a Ford Foundation and British Council scholarship which allowed him to travel to the United States and to Britain. He then moved to Tubingen University in West Germany, where he completed his PhD on the Polish nobleman and composer Michal Kazimierz Oginski. Published in 1961,1 this work exemplified the breadth of Ciechanowiecki's interests and his fascination with Polish and European culture of the eighteenth century. Deciding to remain abroad, he could have found himself at home almost anywhere in Western Europe. He was, for example, passionate about French culture and literature, proud of the fact that he was descended from the sister of Balzac's wife Madame Hanska, and later in life a pillar of the Societe des Amis de la Maison de Balzac and a trustee of the Bibliotheque Polonaise in Paris. But it was perhaps natural that Ciechanowiecki, who had grown up in such a strongly anglophile environment, should have chosen London as his new home. He would also have been well aware that London was at this time fast displacing Paris as the new world centre of the art market, with more exciting opportunities for somebody who wished to make a career as a dealer.Ciechanowiecki was almost forty years old when he arrived in Britain in 1961, famously with just £2 in his pocket, but also with some good connections and a steely determination to succeed in the land of his adoption. His success as a dealer owed much to his drive and energy, which were to become a byword, but these were backed up by his excellent professional knowledge of academic art history, rare if not unique among dealers at this time. In addition, he was able to turn his natural aptitude for diplomacy to advantage when dealing with the many and various demands of his clientele. As his friend Diana Scarisbrick put it, 'He had the finesse of a Metternich! …

Queering the Warsaw Uprising (with a little help from Miron Bialoszewski)

Queering the Warsaw Uprising (with a little help from Miron Bialoszewski)

Dzieje warszawskich Robinsonów jako problem badawczy

The History of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw as a Research ProblemThe presented text attempts to take a closer look at the little–known problem of the life of the Robinson Crusoes of Warsaw, hiding in the city ruins after the fall of the Warsaw Uprising. In this case, fundamental sources include personal accounts both by persons seeking refuge and those who met them as well as German documents. The article considers ways of depicting their life, the experience of hiding, and the manner in which the hideaways remembered those traumatic experiences and shared them.

Propaganda komunistyczna wobec Armii Krajowej w latach 1943–1955

Communist Propaganda Relating to the Home Army in 1943–1955More is known about the image of the Home Army in wartime and post–war communist propaganda from publicistics and a priori theses dealing with simple declarations about anti– AK attitudes and the falsification of history than from strictly scientific studies. Publications that would depict the creation and fluctuation of this image in collective memory are also lacking. It is thus worth drawing attention to a definition of the research theme as such. During the period in question the communists did not make a considerable distinction between AK, WiN (Freedom and Independence), NSZ (National Armed Forces) and other pro–independence organisations, on the one hand, and actual gangs of armed bandits who after the war acted the guise of the Underground, on the other hand.The image of the AK in post–war propaganda was a continuation of the accusatory stance devised by the PPR (Polish Workers’ Party) already in 1943, i.e. at the time of the German occupation. After the war equally negative slogans about AK responsibility for the „sanacja” government and defeat at the time of the September 1939 campaign, wartime passivity, affiliation with fascism, nationalism, and fratricide were furthered with accusations of murdering democrats, banditry, and collaboration with anti–Polish agents in the West.It is essential to indicate the changing perspective. During the so–called amnesty period the impact of anti–AK propaganda was diminished in order to encourage the conspirators to come out into the open. Soon, however, the campaign regained its previous state. The next stage proved even more important; note that at the end of the 1940s and especially during the early 1950s the communists changed their strategy and acknowledged the necessity of deploying a totally different method, i.e. remaining silent. The Home Army became mentioned in the media increasingly rarely and in time the attacks launched against it ceased almost entirely. They reappeared sporadically, e.g. upon the occasion of anniversaries of the Warsaw Uprising, which entailed the functioning of a division into „good” soldiers and „bad” commanders, with General Tadeusz „Bór” Komorowski as the symbolic archenemy.This is not to say that the attitude towards the Home Army actually changed. Pro–independence soldiers were imprisoned, investigated or remained unemployed. The new method aimed at a different target: the relegation of the existence of the underground army from collective memory and its replacement with communist formations. The ultimate goal was probably the creation of an image of communists monopolising the armed struggle and of small fascist bandits groups, which hindered armed struggle and which, for all practical purposes, were not even worthy of recollection.

Szadkowianie w powstaniu warszawskim

The Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation organised by the Polish resis­tance Home Army. lt was planned for 1 st September 1944. The start of the uprising in War­saw spurred social resistance against the Nazi occupiers - people from various backgrounds joined the fighting. Among them were people bom in Szadek and in the surrounding commune. The names identified so far include Janusz Laube, Jerzy Laube, Stefan Laube, Anna Meylert, by marriage Nawrot, Bogdan Sztolc, and Mieczysław Nowak, who lived in Szadek in the interwar period. They all survived the dramatic time of occupation in the capital, except for Mieczysław Nowak, killed by KL Gross-Rosen. They fought in the ranks of the battalion "Sokół", Group "Chrobry Il" and Group "Żbik", having earlier participated in con­spiratorial activity of Szare Szeregi (wartime Polish Scouting Association) and NSZ.  

The Monument and the Sewer: Memory and Death in Wajda’s Kanal (1957)

Andrzej Wajda’s Kanał/Kanal (1957) was expected by many audience members finally to portray the ‘true’ history of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, a history that had been distorted by Poland’s Communist government. This article argues that the virtual sphere of cinema could enact particular commemorative practices, partly founded upon constructing the viewer as a witness to authentic events. My analysis of the film’s internal conflicts partly draws upon the film’s original reception in the Polish press, focusing upon the vocabularies and discourses that were available to writers attempting to describe Kanal’s status as monument, its privileging of truth and witnessing, as well as its visceral force, and its refusal of closure and consolation.

Children and youth in forensic-medical views of Edmund Chróścielewski (1914–1998). Recollections on the centenary of his birthday

Edmund Chróścielewski (1914–1998), professor, head of the Chair and Department of Forensic Medicine, Medical School in Poznań (1952–1985), political prisoner in concentration camp of Auschwitz, a soldier of the Home Army, participant of Warsaw Uprising, author of approximately 200 publications, i.a. within scopes of forensic medicine, social problems, war and occupation, including martyrology of Polish children, participant in identification of bodies in Katyń graves, multi-year guardian of the University Sports Club (AZS).

Major Stefan Szuman in the Battle for the Independence of Poland (1939-1945)

Professor Stefan Szuman (1889-1972), Ph.D. in Medicine and Philosophy, a major of the Polish Army, retired since 1922. The article focuses on his independence activities during the Second World War. In 1939 Szuman voluntarily started and headed a military field hospital in Chrzanów, near Janów Lubelski, during the first phase of the war. During the German occupation of Poland, he lived in the manor of the Kern and Turowicz family in Goszyce and in the property of the Kozłowski family (Ammoreaux) in Luborzyca. There he conducted undercover teaching and first-aid courses on behalf of ZWZ (Związek Walki Zbrojnej, the Union of Armed Struggle) and AK (Armia Krajowa, the Home Army) in the years 1941-1944. He actively participated in the creation of underground Polish culture. He also took part in undercover academic life, giving speeches during the meeting of the PAU Committee on History and Literature in May 1942. In the years 1940-1944 he commuted to Kraków to provide undercover teaching sessions to students of Pedagogy at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University. As a soldier and physician, operating under the codename „Dr. Flis”, „Flis”, or „Łukasz Flis”, he was a member of the command of the „Skała” (the Rock) Independent Guerrilla Battalion. He organized the medical and sanitary department of the battalion and headed it for 5-6 weeks as part of the AK „Burza” (the Storm) operation during clashes and battles with the Germans in the area of Miechów (in August and September 1944), taking part in battles such as the battle of Sadki and Zaryszyn. The article also describes a meeting between Warsaw Uprising refugees and the representatives of AK in Goszyce near Kraków on 31 December 1944, which included Jerzy Andrzejewski, Mieczysław Chojnowski, Czesław Miłosz and Professor Władysław Tatarkiewicz. The Author of the work also mentions the immediate environment of Schuman during World War II, including the story of his future son-in-law, Col. Zbigniew Czyżewicz and his imprisonment by the NKVD in retaliation for participating in the AK „Burza” operation, as well as his deportation to a prison camp in the Soviet Ukraine (March-August 1945).

That Which Is Absent: Accounts and Memories of Women from the Warsaw Uprising as Ready-Made but Not Used Film Scenarios

In Polish feature films about the Warsaw Uprising there are no women. They of course appear as nurses, civilians or message runners. But they are always part of the background, seen, but not looking, symbolic in their presence, and never the active heroines; always serving, and never independent or autonomous. If they are the heroines of the drama, then they are part of someone else’s drama, and are not given a voice of their own. Their narratives and accounts of life, even everyday life, are left unsaid, hidden behind grand and epic narratives of the heroes. The article is about women’s “micro-narratives”, the memories of women who lived in Warsaw and participated in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. The memories give us a chance to see the Uprising in a different light, one that includes the women’s perspective and experience of the Uprising. Women’s accounts, due to their graphic nature and their uniqueness appear to be ready-made but not used film scenarios. [originally published in Polish in Kwartalnik Filmowy 2010, no. 69, pp. 95-120]

Starring – Photos: On Polish Iconographic Films Made from Photos

Short iconographic films made from photos constitute a separate trend of the Polish school of documentary. It has been expanding with new titles over several dozen years. Fleischer’s Album (1962) by Janusz Majewski and A Working Day of Gestapo Man Schmidt (1963) have taught Polish documentary filmmakers how to explore the possibilities of this form of film art. The two documentaries played a pivotal role in paving the way for a whole series of films based on pictures taken by the German troops and officials from World War 2, which presented the private look of the Nazis on the war and its victims. The subject matter of films made from pictures was gradually broadening. These films told the story of the Holocaust and of lack of the victims’ look on the Holocaust, embalmed in photography. Films on the Polish resistance movement were also made, with particular emphasis on the Warsaw Uprising. The turn of the 19th and 20th century became the subject of documentaries at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. Pictures used in almost all of Kazimierz Karabasz’s films are regarded as a medium enriching the documentary with a new reality dimension that cannot be captured by the camera. His films, Summer in Żabno (1977) and Portrait in a Drop of Water (1997), show that films made from photos are perfectly suitable for depicting the present day. [originally published in Polish in Kwartalnik Filmowy 2006, no. 54-55, pp. 212-230]

A Bodiless Enemy

The following is the text of Rafał Marszałek’s address during the international conference on “The Warsaw Uprising in the Context of Polish-German Relations” (Warsaw, 30 March – 1 April, 2007). Marszałek argues that there is no room for an “absolute enemy” in the selected works by Andrzej Wajda, Kazimierz Kutz and Andrzej Munk of the so-called “Polish Film School” and that the films are free of the hatred to the Germans as invaders and occupiers. What emerge from the films are a toothless enemy and then a bodiless enemy. The thesis is exemplified in Canal – the death of the Warsaw insurgents is portrayed in a symbolic language; in Ostinato lugubre, the second part of Eroica, in which the Germans (as enemy) are not the demonic personification of oppression; in The Dog (part of Cross of Valor) – the hero saves the life of the dog guarding inmates at an Auschwitz death camp; in Lotna, one of few war films in the history of cinema that does without the character of a (German) enemy. Marszałek points out that the “dematerialization” of the enemy flows from the special (both psychological and moral) instinct of self-preservation rather than forgiveness. [originally published in Polish in Kwartalnik Filmowy 2007, no. 57-58, pp. 40-45]