Obraz Niemców i Niemiec w „Przeglądzie Zachodnim ” w latach 1945-1990
The image of Germans and Germany in "Western Review" 1945-1990

Summary/Abstract: On the basis of articles published in ‘‘Przegla˛d Zachodni’’ (‘‘Western Review’’) in the years 1945-1990 the author attempts a reconstruction of the image of Germans and Germany conveyed in them. The image changed depending on the intensity of censorship, transformations of the political system in Poland and foreign policy of the Polish People’s Republic. Immediately after the Second World War the account was highly negative and emotional, and amounted to equating all Germans with Nazis. Later on a revisionist picture of Germans and the FRG was sketched and contrasted with the good Germans from the ‘‘progressive’’ GDR. The latter image was evidently counterfeited. A marked change took place after 1970 and in the 1980s. Since criticism of the GDR was avoided, less and less was written about Germans from the GDR, whereas information about the FRG became more and more matter-of-fact. The analysis culminates in the conclusion that the authors of the researched texts gave priority to the Polish raison d’état, i.e. recognition of the finality and integrity of Poland’s western border, while texts on Germany and Germans contain a significant message about life in the Polish People’s Republic.

• Details
• Contents