Svalbard w filmach polskich z lat 30. XX wieku
Svalbard in Polish Films from 1930s

Summary/Abstract: Polish documentary films about Svalbard have been associated with polar research, conducted by Poles on a regular basis since the 1930s. Since then, over 30 films have been made. In their paper, the authors focus on the film reportage of the first Polish expedition to the island of Spitsbergen from 1934: "Do Ziemi Torella" ("To Torell Land"), which was found in 2019, digitized, translated into English and subtitled. They also discuss Polish experiences on the Bear Island and in Northern waters, briefly shown in "Wyspa mgieł i wichrów" ("The Isle of Fogs and Winds") and "Wśród mórz Arktyki" ("In Arctic Seas"), both from 1937. Earlier, Polish Spitsbergen research was limited to natural sciences. They propose to approach it from the perspective of visual history side; then, the analysed films become historical sources – both in the direct and indirect sense (primary and secondary sources). Polish films about Spitsbergen can function as sources for the history of science, for landscape changes, for the history of civilization, polar research, etc. Of course, they also say a great deal about the propaganda and the image of the Arctic in Polish historiography of a given period. The article is a kind of provisional report on a broader project of (re-)discovering and sharing these films.

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