Mikrohistoria na obrzeżach metanarracji. List Marii Kuńskiej z Brzeska do Bolesława Bieruta w związku z akcją „Wisła”
Microhistory on the edge of matanarration. Letter by Maria Kuńska from Brzesko to Bolesław Bierut in relation to operation "Vistula"

Summary/Abstract: The presented article constitutes an illustration of explanatory possibilities resulting from referring to the idea of “thick description”. In contains an analysis of a source document – a letter from a woman from Besko [a village in Krosno powiat (county)] to Polish president Bolesław Bierut, written in relation to the resettlement action with the code name “Vistula” (the main river of Poland). The theoretical assumption accompanying the analysis are: on the one side, questioning of the validity of the ethnohistorical perspective for a heuristic description of the phenomenon of multilayer violence; and on the other side, the problem of projecting the meanings extracted from the source on words in search of generalization (universalizing). In consequence, a question has to be put forward: what purpose does the history serve; whether it is a field of knowledge or merely a pretext to accomplish political goals. The analyzed document is presented in its entirety because of its modest length. Several issues can be singled out within its contents, pointing out at the type of cultural matrix used by the author – Maria Kuńska. Key elements of this matrix were the following notions: existence, fear, hierarchy, violence. Persuasion employed in the letter is not based on the Poles–Ukrainians opposition, but on juxtaposing life/existence with politics.

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