Obrazy Ziem Zachodnich i Północnych w Polskiej Kronice Filmowej w latach 1944-1948
Images of the Western and Northern Territories in the newsreels of the Polish Film Chronicle in the years 1944-1948

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present the images of the political communication created by the editorial team of the Polish Film Chronicle (PKF), an important means of transmission of political contents. In the research considerations, the hypothesis was adopted that in post-war Poland, the PKF became an important component of propaganda activities carried out by the state. Apart from the press and the radio, it was an important tool of political influence in the state authority-society relations. The article uses the technique of exegesis and media analysis. The system analysis method was also used. The study has shown that the political communication of the PKF contained a whole set of meanings, values and principles that played an important role in the media and political message concerning Western and Northern Territories in Poland and influenced the creation of their image. The pictures of the Western and Northern Territories presented by the editorial team of the PKF were a component of the political communication process, of which the final effect was to legitimize the actions of the post-war state authorities. Joining new territories to the "Motherland" symbolized the cohesion of the nation and the state. The glory of historical events related to the Western and Northern Territories, referred to in the communication messages of the PKF, and the construction of a new symbolic and cultural order were characterized by political intentionality and trivial indoctrination. The consistent reference to the myth of the Piast Poland with regards to the Western and Northern Territories had a compensatory function after the loss of the Eastern Borderlands of the Republic of Poland. The subject of the films included in the PKF shaped the image of the Western and Northern Territories and contained elements of anti-war, anti-German, patriotic, national and popular propaganda desired by the state authorities. The content of the PKF fostered the Polonization of the memory concerning the end of the war and its consequences, and strove to increase the achievements of the glorious tradition of the Polish nation in viewers’ eyes.

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