Book on the Film Convention in Wisła ’49. Edition of sources with studies

In 2024, the Polish Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute (FINA) has published an impressive volume entitled „The Film Convention in Wisła 1949. Sources – Comments – Studies”. The authors of the academic studies and compilation are Barbara Giza and Adam Wyżyński. It is the first book entirely devoted to the Filmmakers’ Convention in Wisła which took place from 17–20 November. As a result, full convention transcripts have been published for the first time. Part one of the book, entitled „Introduction”, contains three articles by Rafał Habielski, Grzegorz Wołowiec and Piotr Zwierzchowski, presenting the political context of the Convention. The second, main part of the publication contains a transcript of the Convention in Wisła. The great merit of this edition is the thorough editing of the source text and the inclusion of numerous footnotes containing explanations, biographical and film notes, etc. Part three of the book contains „Other source material” relating to the Convention. Also of great value is a set of photographs from the Convention included in the volume; they are an important source material in themselves. The last part contains four articles (by Barbara Giza and Adam Wyżyński, Mariusz Mazur, Piotr Śmiałowski and Jarosław Grzechowiak) which provide commentary on the source batch. The volume devoted to the Convention in Wisła is a well and carefully published, superbly researched item. There is no doubt that the publication will become a must for anyone interested in Polish cinematography, post-war Polish history, or Polish culture.

The role of anthems in the process of forming Central European national identities based on the book by Csaba G. Kiss

Csaba G. Kiss, using comparative analysis, has not only attempted to uncover the corpus of dominant motifs in national songs, but has also indicated how their selection was influenced by historical events and the traditions of individual communities. Particularly noteworthy are the sections of the work where the links between the songs produced in different national communities are presented, both in terms of their forms and content. On the other hand, what can draw exceptional admiration is the enormous erudition of the author of The Anthems of East-Central Europe, who in his investigations referred not only to the literature in the languages of the conference, but also made extensive use of Polish, Czech, Slovak, Croatian, Romanian and - understandably because of his origin – Hungarian studies. Minor errors of a factual nature are somewhat surprising, such as the attribution to Alexander I the paternity of Grand Duke Constantine, commander-in-chief of the Polish army and the actual governor of Congress Poland from 1815 to 1830. The book under review can be considered a highly successful example of the use of comparative analysis in research dedicated to the emergence of national identity in Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries.

History, archaeology and ethnography as disciplines unsuitable for the study of Slavic beliefs according to Dariusz Andrzej Sikorski in his „Religions of the ancient Slavs”

For the author of the book presented below, the topic of Slavic beliefs is only a pretext for formulating writing technique-related postulates. A discussion with D.A. Sikorski should not take place in the field of methodology, or the field of the substance, and even less in the field of extra-academic research motivations. A historian should give voice to the source accounts (which does not necessarily mean considering them historically reliable), and this is made possible by appropriate methods. D.A. Sikorski, on the other hand, believes that the method is secondary, as long as it leads to results that are consistent with the ‘state of the facts’, which in practice have nothing to do with the sources. His proposal, however, is unacceptable for it is characterised by unreliability, one-sidedness, undermining of source testimony and replacing it with one’s own fantasies in accordance with a preconceived thesis that „it is not known how it actually was, but it is known that the Slavs did not have their own beliefs”. The result is a methodological trap: positivism has been taken to its ultimate consequences and turned upside down, becoming voluntarism within which you can undermine whatever you see fit.

At the beginning of the 20th century, some Polish Catholic priests in Poland under Prussian rule started to promote modern social work among Polish middle-class women, and encouraged them to attend German social courses. The aim of this article is to show the contexts and trends explaining why Polish clergy chose to promote German models of modern social work among Polish women when the tension between Poles and Germans was building up. The author presents arguments indicating that the idea behind the Polish priests’ efforts to train professional staff of female Catholic activists was to provide support for implementing the principles of the encyclical Rerum novarum among working class families, especially women and children. The author uses the example of Poznań/Posen as an important city where Polish priests promoted modern social work of women. A group of female leaders from the Social Department, a new organisation that was a part of the Association of Catholic Societies for Working Women, supervised by the priests, started to work with the reception and national interpretation of German, and other models of social work. These Polish women were with a part of the patron women’s movement including Ladies of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul Society (Panie Miłosierdzia Towarzystwa św. Wincentego à Paulo) and Sodalities of Mary’s Children (Sodalicje Dzieci Marii) that did not question the leading role of the clergy and German models of social work.

French or Russian? Lead bullets from the Pułtusk battlefield

The article is a discussion of issues related to the newly discovered lead gunpowder bullets obtained during archaeological prospection by means of metal detectors in a field near Pułtusk that witnessed a battle in 1806. Archaeologists took initial interest in the battlefield of Pułtusk back in the early 21st century. As a result of the research activity, the venue has been granted conservation protection and has been entered in the register of monuments. Surface exploration has been carried out by a team of a dozen or so people. After the discovery of the artefact, its location was measured in three dimensions with the help of a GPS receiver operating in the RTK (Real Time Kinematic) mode. The aim of the analysis has been to link the artifacts with a confrontation of Napoleonic and Russian armies. The observations included registration of marks on the bullets, identifying the methods of removing the casting sprue, traces of a worm used to remove unspent powder and traces of animal teeth. The acquired data were spatially visualized and combined with historical knowledge about the course of the battle, providing a complementary picture. The described research procedure, from field prospection using spatial GIS analyses to observations on artifacts, highlights the potential of drawing conclusions about historical events in the light of discovered archaeological sources.

Beyond politics: about Peter I’s visit to Gdansk in 1716 in the light of selected contemporary sources

The article presents the visit of Tsar Peter I to Gdańsk in 1716; it is based on an unpublished anonymous manuscript from the Gdansk Library of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Summarischer Bericht Deßen, was währender Ihro Groß-Czaar: Maytt: Hoher Gegenwart Anno 1716. allhier in Dantzig passiret und vorgegangen [PAN BG rkps 699]), and coverage by the European press (mainly Europäische Fama and Hamburger Relations-Courier) compared with selected texts from the era, including Major von Conradi Geschriebenes Journal des Kriegs Etats von Anno 1704 biss 1719 (PAN BG rkps 592). These sources allow to show the cultural context of this visit and offer new information on the role of Gdansk as a center of natural science in the 18th century. (The text of the manuscript PAN BG rkps 699 is attached as an annex to the article). For a better understanding of the non-political aspects of Peter I’s stay in Gdansk in 1716, however, manuscript and old-print materials held in Russian institutions, primarily in St Petersburg, need to be identified. An analysis thereof will provide better contextualisation of the source material studied so far and provide more details on the cultural elements of Peter I’s two-month visit to the city on the Motława River and its impact on Gdansk-Russian relations in the 18th century.

The ethos of the Polish hetman as presented in domestic theoretical treatises from the 16th century

The author of this text proves that it is possible to reconstruct the hetman ethos on the basis of a group of sources such as works on topics related to the military. The form of the ethos is also justified by extra-source materials, which may be regarded as confirmation of its real value in research into the moral issues of the Polish nobility in the 16th century. The author submits this proposal for further discussion and possible revision. It is recommended to carry out in-depth research into the hetman ethos where other types of sources are employed, which may prove to be no less authoritative. The knowledge of the hetman ethos, also as an example of research into the world of values and the moral side of human activity in history, can be used in assessing the moral-ethical aspect of other social groups or professions, not necessarily related to the military. However, scholarly endeavours based on an analysis of all kinds of activities of Polish commanders in the First Republic using the hetman ethos will prove extremely important. In the course of the research, the emergence of new interpretations and assessments of issues may be expected, issues which to this day remain incomprehensible or seem to have been exhausted by research.

While the expeditions of prince Casimir and later prince John I Albert took place in different political situations, they share some similarities. Both military campaigns had the same background in the regions of north-eastern Hungary. The study focuses on the power support of two members of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Hungary. Prince Casimir’s expedition of 1471–1472 and Prince John I Albert’s expedition of 1490–1492 were characterised by continuous Hungarian support. Due to intensive contacts in the borderlands, the Polish party was supported by members of several generations of the magnate families, as well as local landowners. The Jagiellonians were mainly supported by the Rozgonyi and Perényi families in the regions of Šariš and Zemplín. The reasons for this multi-generational support can be attributed to the proximity of the magnates and their estates to Poland, and in the personal, economic and cultural ties in the borderlands. It is significant that, despite the failure of the expeditions, the rebellious magnate families were not stripped of their status, unlike lower-ranking nobles.