Na wschodzie bez zmian. Analiza figur władcy, kata i ofiary na przykładzie zdjęć z czasów represji po rewolucji 1905–1907
All Quiet on the Eastern Front. An Analysis of the Figures of ruler, Executioner and Victim on the Example of Photographs

Author(s): Tomasz Ferenc
Subject(s): Cultural history, Local History / Microhistory, Culture and social structure
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: Łódź; workers' revolt; photography; Russian terror
Summary/Abstract: The text contains an analysis of three photographs taken in the Tsar's prison in 1908 after the suppression of the workers' revolt in Łódź (Revolution of 1905). They show both prisoners and the staff supervising the convicts, including the prison warden and the executioner and his assistants. In one of the photos, which was taken in the style of a traditional souvenir shot, torturers and convicts pose together. This forced situation raises many questions and has many meanings, which are described in the text. However, these photographs are primarily an excuse to show the chain of terror that starts with the head of the Russian state (Tsar Nicholas II) and through the governor (General Nikolai Kaznakov) reaches the prison warden (Karol Modzelewski) and the executioners subordinated to him (including, among others, Ryszard Fremel), who executed condemned workers. The photographs included in the text can be read in the context of the revolutionary history of Łódź, testimonies of tsarist terror, and the workers' struggle to improve their fate, but also to liberate themselves from the yoke of the invader. For the author of the text, however, these photographs should be read in the perspective of the broadly understood history of the Russian empire, the methods of operation of the state apparatus of terror, apparent normalization, references to rules and order, behind which, however, the imperial doctrine of conquest and violence is hidden.

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