The main theme in the Polish science and fiction literature, which in the postwar era evolved primarily in exile (in the works of Józef Mackiewicz and other authors whose interest was concentrated on Second World War times), are issues related to the lack of understanding and reconciliation between the Polish resistance movement, the history of the Home Army and the guerrilla groups of various nationalities (Belarusian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Russian) in the Polish Eastern Borderlands occupied by the Nazis and national organizations and liberation movements of nations that sought their own solutions to national problems by means of collaboration with the occupants. Misunderstandings, war clashes among themselves caused fatal misfortune, irreparable damage to the lives of these people and for the common cause against the occupant. At first the Polish literature was dominated by the desire to find the culprits of this situation among neighbours, among others to prove the guilt of the Belarusians in what formed in Polish Eastern Borderland during the war and occupation, then the creation of the communist regime, when, supposedly, Belarusians willingly and on a mass scale served in the Soviet authorities “gosbezopasnosti” and in the ranks of the Polish Department of Security (UB). Such a drive in the works of writers and scientific studies of recent decades is changing to a more objective approach and indepth analysis of the dramatic situation in which were nations of Eastern Europe, deceived by their own leaders, blinded by false illusions, pulled into a fratricidal war. In Polish literature, whose attention is paid to the situation of the Belarusian minority in post-war “People’s Poland” – situation in many aspects hard and unlawful – new intonations of repentance and reconciliation can be heard much louder. Evidence of this poetic light Belarus-Dobrorus image can be.

Official Hans Frank, not counting indexes includes 24 volumes of diaries and 11 volumes of minutes. Entries were conducted from 24 October, 1939 to April 3, 1945. It can be a great source of historical research into the German occupation during World War II. However, using the Journal, we must not forget the conditions under which arose and how it was given character – propaganda showing the construction of a new order in the East. Also be aware that the issues were not top secret protocols.

An important element of the ethnic and racial policy pursued by the German occupant in the Reich Province of Danzig-West Prussia was cultural policy (Kulturpolitik). Admittedly, since the first days of occupation the German authorities attached great importance to matters of culture – however, in the Nazi reality there was no cultural policy understood as encouragement and support offered by state authorities for independent, artistic creativity in its varied forms. The Nazis “controlled” culture, which played an important role in the process of creating a new reality in the annexed Polish territories. In the present paper, the author discusses selected issues illustrating the organization and forms of German cultural life in the Danzig-West Germany Province of the Reich. In outlining the German cultural policy, two main aspects were taken into account: culture as just another component of the broader German nationalistic and ethnic policy, as well as its role as an integral part of social reality.

W niniejszym tekście porównuję kilka filmów z lat 60. oraz przełomu pierwszej i drugiej dekady XXI wieku: Jak być kochaną (1962) Wojciecha Jerzego Hasa i Joannę (2010) Feliksa Falka, Echa (1964) Stanisława Różewicza i Kreta (2010) Rafaela Lewandowskiego oraz Na melinę (1965) Różewicza i Obławę (2012) Marcina Krzyształowicza. Filmy te równie wiele dzieli, jak łączy. Niemniej jednak podobieństwa wydają się zbyt istotne, by przejść obok nich obojętnie. Nie tyle wojna czy lustracja są ich tematem, ile ludzie postawieni w niecodziennej sytuacji, ich wybory, postawy, dylematy, ale i miłości. W każdym razie w żadnym z nich wojna nie jest powodem do dumy czy chwały, niezależnie od tego, czy kończy się zwycięstwem, czy staje się przyczyną heroicznych zmagań i cierpień. Mimo upływu lat i różnych kontekstów dostrzegam w nich te same problemy, postawy, dyskurs wartości, rozwiązania ideowe i dramaturgiczne, ale też odrębność wobec dominujących wizerunków pamięci, przeszłości i wojny. Dzięki temu mogę zadać pytanie o status relacji między dawnym i nowym polskim kinem, skupić się na sensie pewnych prawidłowości bądź znaczeniu powtórzeń. Wszystkie te filmy łączy nieoczywistość, brak wiary w jednoznaczne odpowiedzi, używając pewnego uogólnienia - przełamanie stereotypów funkcjonujących w polskim myśleniu o przeszłości, pamięci i wojnie. Powrót do tych samych tematów, sposobów ujęcia, wątpliwości, porządku aksjologicznego nie oznacza prostej kontynuacji czy nawiązań, mających podkreślić odwołanie do klasyki polskiego kina. Nowe filmy stanowią raczej dowód na to, że kolejni twórcy poszukują odpowiedzi na uniwersalne pytania. Nie pozwalają kulturze zamknąć się w gotowych schematach.

“Soviet citizens” in Poznań region in 1945–1949

The article discusses the fate of individuals of interest of the Soviet authorities and deemed the USSR citizens. Some of them were forced labourers on their way back home from Germany and the occupied countries. A large part of them were inhabitants of Wielkopolska who used to have Russian or Soviet citizenship. The article presents treatment thereof in Wielkopolska in 1945-1949.

The halved heroism: some reflections on autobiographism in Mario Rigoni Stern’s Il sergente nella neve

this article aims to analyse the image that the writer Mario Rigoni Stern wants to give of himself as a soldier abandoned to his fate during the disastrous Russian campaign of 1942-1943. Hence, this paper begins by mentioning the importance of autobiographism in neorealist literature after World War II. In the first part of the article, works by Paul Ricœur, Philippe Lejeune, Ivan tassi, and Maria Anna Mariani will be considered in order to emphasise that, in autobiographical books, the writer “builds”, “transforms”, his or her own image according to a specific ideology. Following this premise, the analysis of Il sergente nella neve, according to the contemporary theories of autobiography, aims to highlight the image that the writer wants to give of himself as a soldier, an image simultaneously humanised and heroised. In fact, in his own humanity, Rigoni Stern’s hero tragically takes on an epic dimension. thus, it can be concluded that the inhuman effort of a man who is leftalone in front of a hostile nature and a powerful enemy creates a new example of the epic hero. Furthermore, the self-image modelled in this text is presented as an individual who is fighting not only for his own survival, but also for the survival of his companions. He is a leader to follow and a reference point, a soldier who does not fight for a political cause, but for greater values, like friendship, love, or honour.

Kwestia przyłączenia Ziem Zachodnich i Północnych do Polski, była w okresie II wojny światowej ważnym elementem polityki rządu polskiego w Londynie i komunistów polskich w otoczeniu Stalina w ZSRR. Przygotowania do przejęcia przez polską administrację, inspirowaną przez Stalina, ZZ i Płn. obejmowały, oprócz stworzenia podstaw prawnych i uregulowania stosunków z wojskową administracją wojenną, także opracowanie ogólnej koncepcji działania oraz zgromadzenie niezbędnych środków do realizacji tego zamierzenia. Trudności z tworzeniem administracji na Ziemiach Zachodnich wynikały nie tylko z ogólnego chaosu powojennego, z braku jednolitych i jasno sformułowanych podstaw prawnych, ale również z niedostatku precyzyjnie określonych zadań i kompetencji.

Leon Weintraub. A survivor for reconciliation

The group of Auschwitz survivors is numerous and rapidly shrinking. However, the accounts (could use: biographies, memoirs, recollections, stories, etc.) of those who experienced it are remarkable and still worthy of study. Moreover, testimonies from the time of the Annihilation (or Holocaust) – a message with a great weight of emotion and a particular feature of the great history, make the material collected in this way can serve as an invaluable contribution to expanding knowledge and analysis for future generations. Naturally, the educational issue is also important, although the focus will be on the cognitive role. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the fate of the life of an outstanding physician, a Polish Jew from Lodz, Leon Weintraub, who “started” his life anew three times – at the time of his birth in 1926, his liberation from the Nazi camps, and his expulsion from the country as part of the anti-Semitic campaign of March 1968. It seems that the study of the fate of an individual’s life under totalitarian systems, using the oral history method and confronting other sources, makes it possible to create a biographical sketch that is not just a collection of dry facts but enriched with elements of personal emotions, sensitivities, and feelings.

A boy who wanted to become a Nazi. The image of national socialism in the film Jojo Rabbit by Taika Waititi

The history of World War II and the Third Reich enjoy unfading interest of filmmakers who not only include certain threads of those historical realities into their productions but make them the theme determining a course of a story. The Jojo Rabbit film directed by Taika Waititi is without a doubt much more than just an interesting story of a boy who wanted to become a Nazi. Waititi (New Zealand based) painted a satirical and ambivalent picture of national socialism; this time around viewers could watch it from the perspective of a child imbued with this ideology. The plot of the film contains references to anti-Semitism, Aryan racial superiority and ways of controlling society. The viewer’s doubts may be raised by the fact that all these elements are presented in a satirical form. The aim of this study is not only the attempt to evaluate this picture with consideration to historical realities, but also a look into the choice of media used by the director.

The beginning of the Second World War on the pages of the Ukrainian emigration weekly “Ňđčçóá”

The article presents the preconditions, causes, and outbreak of the Second World War through the eyes of correspondents of the Ukrainian emigration weekly “Тризуб” [Tryzub], which was published in Paris by the State Centre of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (the UPR Government in exile) in 1925–1940 and reflected its position, albeit unofficially. The article recreates a retrospective of the events leading up to the outbreak of the new world war from the perspective of the part of the emigration that recognised the UPR as the only legitimate Ukrainian statehood and shows their vision of how the war would affect Ukraine and the prospects for restoring its independence and potential role on the international stage during these tumultuous events.

The submarine ORP “Sęp” in Polish military historiography

The last one adopted before 1939 for service in the Polish Navy, most often appears as a twin ship of the legendary ORP “Orzeł”. The war history of ORP “Sęp” was short, covering only a few days of the Polish campaign. Interned in Sweden, the ship lived to see the end of World War II there. He returned to Poland together with his commanding officer – lieutenant commander Władysław Salamon. He served in the Polish Navy until 1969. Its history is hidden in the shadows, not receiving the proper attention from historians.

How does Yad Vashem Institute presents the stories of the youngest participants in the war? What role do children play in its narrative? Do the authors of the exhibition devote separate exhibition to them – or are the children’s fates ‘inscribed’ in the overall message about history? Is the death of victims or the death of heroes at the centre of the message? Is the museum presentation dedicated to specific, individual figures or rather to communities of anonymous participants in wartime events? The author of the article addresses those questions by analysing the narrative line of the Holocaust History Museum (Yad Vashem) in Jerusalem. The research conducted show that the Holocaust story presented in this place focuses on the loss and suffering that resulted in interrupted lives. The perspective of the victims dominates the exhibition analysed. The civilian victims of occupation and Genocide are at the centre of the exhibition.

Memory nodes. The issue of the Katyn massacre in Polish-Russian relations

The article focuses on discussing the impact of the conditions regarding the Katyn massacre on the current relations between Warsaw and Moscow. The history of these two countries is characterized by a long and difficult past, which is why numerous unresolved disputes, burdens and myths have arisen and are still visible today, negatively affecting bilateral contacts. In 1989, right after the fall of the communist system in Poland, the new political elites, coordinating the process of democratic changes in our country, made efforts to sort out the controversial threads in the common Polish-Russian history. Without a doubt, the most important of them was the Katyn massacre. For the political elites of the Third Polish Republic, explaining the overall circumstances of those events was the most important goal of diplomatic activities undertaken towards the Kremlin. In Warsaw’s opinion, untangling this knot of memory from the history of relations between the two countries was supposed to help free them from past burdens and negative accumulations and contribute to strengthening friendship in current times. Unfortunately, it quickly turned out that this topic soon became one of the main elements negatively burdening mutual relations.

“Poland” and messianism in the writings of Sister Helena Rafaela Majewska CSA, Vilnius Apostle of Divine Mercy

Helena Rafaela Majewska CSA (1902–1967) infiltrated the habitless congregation of the Sisters of Angels. Mystic; propagator of God’s mercy; penitent and collaborator of Fr. Michał Sopoćko – Vilnius confessor of Sister Faustyna Kowalska; continuator of her message. Majewska left a spiritual Diary from the years 1941–1943, in which a patriotic and messianic theme appears, the author will appear as an element of the message of mercy and the perspective of the fate of Poland revealed to her by God. The texts constitute their important sources, from which come the records of the Way of the Cross of the Polish Nation, where the mystic assigned the events of the subsequent World War II to the emergency station. The analysis of Majewska’s spiritual records is valuable both from the point of view of theological and historical sciences. In the first case, they reveal the obligation of patriotism in the formation and experience of religion in the early 20th century and during the Second Mandatory War. In the second one – revealing the elements of Polish messianism and allowing the use of interpretation of historical events at the time they occurred.