![The German–Polish textbook commission and relations between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1972 to 1975](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2013_647.jpg)
The German–Polish textbook commission and relations between Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany from 1972 to 1975
Komisja podręcznikowa a stosunki PRL–RFN w latach 1972–1975
Keywords: Ostpolitik
More...Keywords: Ostpolitik
More...Collective memory is an array of images about a common past shared by the members of a given community or group. It is one of the elements of their identity that facilitates their integration. As such, it can be the basis of ideologies which function within a group. The present article is an attempt to reconstruct the elements of collective memory and national ideology of the representatives of Polish independence emigration in Great Britain. This is done in the form of an analysis of the contents of articles which appeared in the ‘‘Dziennik Polski’’ published in London.
More...Keywords: colonization; colonialism. post-colonial discourse
This paper seeks to answer whether it is right to refer to the concepts of colonialism and colonization when interpreting the history of the Republic of Poland. Drawing on the so-called post-colonial discourse in Poland, the author puts forward the problem of methodological nature. The point is that the basic concepts in this discourse are not well-defined and yet, despite this drawback, they are used as analytical categories in the reinterpretation of the history of Poland. This fact, as the author notes, deprives the post-colonial discourse of its being reliable and scientifically valuable. Addressing the problem posed by the initiator of the discourse under consideration, the author analyses first the concept of colony, colonization, and colonialism, and then examines whether it is justified to apply them in relation to the Republic of Poland. In the course of her analysis, she focuses also on the problem of the colonization of Poland by her three invaders: Russia, Prussia, and Austria. It follows from the analysis the, firstly, the concept of colonialism has no application in the interpretation of the past of Poland and its usage is a categorical abuse; the concept of colonization is used within certain limits and does not concern the state’s activity, but the migration of settlers and attitudes adopted by some citizens in some periods of the Republic of Poland and her history; the concept of colonization, however, can be applied to the interpretation of politics of all three invaders towards the Polish Republic and all her resources.
More...Keywords: Prussia; mentality; Junkers; militarism; Protestantism
The central category in the life of the Prussian bourgeoisie was work and this opinion is accepted by the admirers of the notion of the Prussian mentality. In the case of the Prussian state, work ethic was implemented primarily by the educated middle class, as the economic middle class was poor and did not have its own clear habitus. The Junkers were related to militarism, as the most important feature of the Prussian nobility, but also to social training, and great organizational successes. Moreover, the social, economic, cultural and ideological superstructure contributed to the creation of the mythology of the Prussian state and dynasty. The most important value for officers was honour which was adapted from the nobility. The traditional, military instrument of its defence was duels. Prussian virtues included also: progressiveness, modernity (understood as overcoming the state order), selflessness (unconditional dedication to the state), aggressiveness, tolerance, the rule of law and equality before the law, obedience, discipline, awareness of one’s duty, dignity, defence of ones independence, personal restraint, frugality, respect for public property, incorruptibility, honesty, respect for education, courage and bravery. Moreover, the image of Poland and Poles in Prussia played a crucial role in the mental orientation of Prussians. A negative image of Poles, the metaphor of ‘‘polnische Wirtschaft’’, co-created the modern German national identity in Prussia as their opposite.
More...Andrzej Fischer- Sprawozdanie z działalności Komitetu Opieki nad Kopcem Józefa Piłsudskiego w 2010 roku Włodzimierz Śliwczyński - Sprawozdanie z przebiegu prac na Kopcu Józefa Piłsudskiego w 2010 roku Antoni Cieślik - Sprawozdanie z działalności Małopolskiego Oddziału Związku Piłsudczyków w Krakowie w 2010 roku Adam Roliński - Sprawozdanie z działalności Fundacji Centrum Dokumentacji Czynu Niepodległościowego w 2010 roku
More...Jesienią bieżącego roku – dokładnie 5 września – mija dwadzieścia lat od wznowienia stosunków dyplomatycznych pomiędzy Litwą i Polską. Jest to dobra okazja nie tylko do wspólnych obchodów, lecz także do podsumowania tego okresu w najnowszej historii, zarówno w życiu każdego z państw, jak też w relacjach dwustronnych. Uważam jednak, że wielowiekowa historia litewsko -polskiej współpracy jest tak unikalna, że dla oceny aktualnego stanu relacji oraz nakreślenia wizji przyszłości należałoby przynajmniej pobieżnie przejrzeć stronice bardziej odległej przeszłości.
More...Keywords: Tom Stoppard; Squaring the Circle; Solidarity carnival; Eastern Europe
Schreiber's text concerns a film based on Tom Stoppard's Squaring the Circle screenplay, whose action takes place during the "Solidarity carnival.” The author examines this manner of seeing issues in Poland and the Poles, by people outside of the country and culture where the events in the film occur. The text analyzes the stereotypical, even phantasmatic image of Eastern Europe seen through the eyes of Western neighbors. This process exemplifies an age-old phenomenon known as "literary colonization."
More...Keywords: European Union; secularisation; tolerance; progress; science and technology; freedom
The European Union fulfils the philosophical concepts formulated in the European thinking of the 17th and 18th centuries. The importance of the freedom and autonomy of the individual, given prominence in the postulates of numerous philosophers of the Enlightenment, first and foremost in respect of religion and the state, constitutes the European Union’s conceptual foundation. Other aspects which attest to this connection are secularisation, inspired by the notion of tolerance and the freedom of each and every individual, and the emphasis accorded the crucial relevance of science and technology. In acceding to the European Union, Poland had both to accept and unceasingly put into practice its supreme ideas, which were inspired by the philosophical reflections of the Enlightenment.
More...This article analyses political ideas of Jędrzej Giertych presented in 1929 -1939 period, when he was one of leading proponents of the ‘young’ fraction of the Polish National Party (Stronnictwo Narodowe), populary known as Endecja. Giertych’s writings were shown as part of the degeneration process of endecian political thought, early endecian political realism was substituted by fantasies and conspiracy theories, taken from fringe to the core of endecian ideology. Giertych blamed democracy and liberalism as results of ‘Jewish -freemasonic conspiracy’, to which belonged also the Commmunist International. The rise of Italian Fascism, German hitlerism and Franco’s rebelion in Spain were for Giertych sources of hope as a part of the chain of ‘nationalist revolutions’ passed through Europe. Giertych promoted a nationalists revolution in Poland and also demanded total expulsion of Jews form Poland with confiscating all Jewish property. His idea of ‘national government’ was very unclear, certeinly he expected one -party endecian rule, excluding free elections. In economic policy ‘national government’ ought to prefer small bussines and actively decentralized industrial production. It is argued that generally, Giertychs’ political writings pave the way to the transformation of the Endecian ideology – from political realism to antimodern utopia.
More...Keywords: szober; łoś; correspondence
Collections of remaining letters written by Professor S. Szober to one of the most outstanding Polish linguists of the 20th century, Jan Łoś, are a valuable evidence of vivid relationships between the scholars belonging to two separate academic circles: Warsaw and Cracow. They are precious source materials of the history of Polish linguistics.
More...Keywords: Theatre; Drama
The author analyses the notion of resentment – previously regarded negatively and burdened with normalizing and excluding potential – and proposes that it be viewed from another perspective. Niziołek contrasts the amnesiacal play, as pursued by Warlikowski in Cleansed or Lupa in Factory 2, with plays sensitive to social layers of memory – e.g. the productions of Grzegorzewski or Klata as well as the following contemporary Polish plays: Masłowska’s It’s Good Between Us, Stasiuk’s Night, Paweł Demirski’s A Play for a Child and Long Live the War!!! and Bożena Umińska-Keff’s A Piece about Mother and the Homeland. He proves that resentment is a genuine creative force in theatre.
More...Keywords: chauvinism; divide and rule; Lithuania; mimetic rivalry; nationalism; Poland; scapegoat
Polska i Litwa to dwa państwa o wspólnej wielowiekowej historii. Znacznym problemem u północnych sąsiadów Polski jest szowinizm, który miał okazję odrodzić się po upadku ZSRR. Przez lata skrywany, największego wroga znalazł w polskości i stanowi obecnie główny czynnik jednoczący. Litwini posiadają wynikły z zaszłości historycznych kompleks polskości, który wynika z utożsamiania polskości z prestiżem. Przedmiot analizy, czyli relacje polsko-litewskie, został w niniejszym artykule naświetlony z wykorzystaniem metody badawczej, której autorem jest francuski antropolog René Girard (1923-). Ową metodą jest teoria mimetyczna.
More...Keywords: religiosity; emotions; Church; charisma;
Wonderful phenomena are features of religiosity. They include private revelations and charismatic figures of the prophets interpreters of the revelations. In Poland, priest Piotr Natanek considers himself to be such a prophet and interpreter of God’s messages. He owns a religious centre near Makow Podhalanski and publishes his messages on the Internet TV. An analysis of one of the series of his sermons concerning the situation of the Church through the prism of the sociology of emotions, allows extracting and categorizing emotions conveyed by the prophet from Grzechynia. In the analysed series of sermons “Kościół płonie” („The Church on fire”), Piotr Natanek determines his emotions relating to the fact of being chosen by God and those relating to the situation in the world and in the Church, as well as the emotions of God about the Church, the emotions of priests regarding the God, his emotions regarding the deviations in the Church, the emotions of those renewing the Church and the climate of persecution of those whom God has chosen for special tasks of a revival/renewal. These emotions were grouped according to Jonathan H. Turner’s categories. Based on this typology, the author attempted to assess the emotional impact of Piotr Natanek on his audience.
More...Keywords: history; Polish public universities; the names of patrons
The article is concerned about the issue of the history and the names of Polish public universities from the Middle Ages to the present day. In the resulting essay there is an analysis of factors such as: tradition, the validity of normative acts, as well as historical processes, which are the determinants shaping the names of the national universities. Important place in the scope of this discussion is the question of acceptance of the patrons' names by some of the Polish universities. The study focuses on considerations of a historical nature without making the analysis of the language issues. The study is supported by tabular statement, which contains the names of all public universities currently operating in Poland with regard to their historical names, along with the period of their operation.
More...Keywords: balance of power; international relations
The paper focuses on a major question: should we abandon balance of power theory or seek to amend it in light many recent challenges? Author also raises crucial conceptual concerns: how should we define concepts such as „balancing”, „the balance of power”, and „balance of power theory”? Article elaborates a distinction between three related theories: balance of power theory, theories of power balances, and theories of balancing. In section II author discuss the concept balance of power in works of Edmund Burke. In section III he presents a survey of three historical international systems: ancient Middle Eastern system, the Greek city-state system and ancient China system. The weight of historical evidence casts significant doubt on the balancing efforts. This evidence shows that balancing processes rarely blocked the emergence of a prominent power or undermined it once it came into being. The balancing dynamics often failed in the face of the logics of domination. The balance of power theory is metaphor for the peculiar, impersonal form through which our collective human agency is expressed in the history of international relations. If and when it do disappear it will be through a process of social transformation, not one of cognitive reformulation. Balance of power theory must not any longer be the integrating theory of international relations.
More...Keywords: Poland-Lithuania; The Annual Register; British press; Edmund Burke;
From the early 18th century the British press went through a process of rapid expansion. In 1759 there appeared a new magazine, The Annual Register. Despite its elitist character, high price – 11 shillings per issue – and strong competition, the magazine became popular among members of the public. Until 1764 the first editor and the author of the major lead articles on recent events was Edmund Burke, but even after this date he wrote articles about the issues he found particularly interesting. One of these issues was the internal and external condition of Poland-Lithuania. Burke presented Poland-Lithuania as a weak and anarchic state, with no serious influence on the international stage. In the first few years he saw the main reason for that in the politics of the Polish nobility, who interested mainly in limiting royal power. From 1768 Burke saw the main reason to be in the foreign policies of neighbouring powers, Russia, and then, from 1772, Prussia. This change was due to two factors. In the case of Russia, Burke was afraid of its fast growing importance in European politics and of what he saw as Russian plans to build a ‘universal monarchy’. In the case of Prussia, he was disappointed with the aggressive policies of his former hero, Frederick II, that led to the first partition of Poland.
More...Keywords: “breakthroughs”; “revivals”; “collapses”; national history;Jan Dlugosz;
The author seeks to reconstruct “breakthroughs, revivals, and collapses” in The Annals of Jan Długosz. Although the chronicler did not specify turning points in the history of Poland, but it seems to be possible to find these breakthrough events by analysing the narrative and referring to the knowledge about Długosz’s writing method and way of thinking. It is also necessary to remember that the chronicle’s conceptual framework did not extend beyond a medieval mental frame, and for this reason it is difficult to expect him to formulate opinions and ideas corresponding to the contemporary understanding of individual problems.
More...Keywords: book review; Balkan Wars; post cold-war era; international relations; politics; Poland; Wołyń Voivodeship; interwar period; state police;
Review of: 1. Andrzej Krzak, Wojny bałkańskie 1912–1913, Warszawa 2017, Wydawnictwo im. Stanisława Podobińskiego Akademii im. Jana Długosza w Częstochowie, ss. 349. Review by: Dariusz Faszcza; 2. John J. Mearsheimer, Tragizm polityki mocarstw, tłum. Piotr Nowakowski, Jan Sadkiewicz, Kraków 2019, Universitas, ss. 507, mapy. Review by: Jakub Polit; 3. Oleh Razyhrayev, Policja Państwowa w województwie wołyńskim w okresie międzywojennym, Warszawa 2019, Wydawnictwo IPN, ss. 455. Review by: Mateusz Rodak
More...Keywords: Edmund Burke; Commonwealth; internal and external security; European community;
The article presents the opinions and views of the outstanding British politician and thinker, Edmund Burke (1730–1797), on the situation of the Commonwealth. Burke devoted little attention to Polish affairs, but using its example, he formulated some theses on the internal and external reasons for the collapse of states. These views he developed in the last years of his activity, focusing on the French revolution.
More...Keywords: II rozbiór; Kraków; gen. Józef Wodzicki; wojsko koronne; fortyfikacje; Second Partition of Poland; Cracow; general Józef Wodzicki; the crown military forces; fortifications
At the beginning of 1793, the Prussian army marched onto the territory of the western provinces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, executing the plan of the Second Partition of Poland signed in Saint Petersburg. Due to the lack of information concerning the maximum range of the annexation in the early spring, the Confederate authorities started to fear that Cracow might be taken too – by Prussia or by Austria. Thus, general Józef Wodzicki was tasked with securing the city. However, he had to face the fact that there was no possibility of planning his actions around the fortifications and that he had only modest forces at his disposal.
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