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1

THE LODZ CENTRE OF RESEARCH INTO MOST RECENT HISTORY ON THE HISTORIOGRAPHIC MAP OF POLAND

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Stobiecki R.

Dzieje Najnowsze

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2004

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issue 2

3-9

EN

The Institute of History of the Lodz University formally consists of five chairs: -of Polish Most Recent History; -of Polish Contemporary History; -of Most Recent World History; -of East European History; -of Middle Eastern Studies, pursuing widely comprehended most recent history. Furthermore, the problem of most recent history in a slightly different, historiographic aspect is present also in works by the staff of the Chair of the History of Historiography. Altogether, the listed structures include 24 persons, not counting the Ph. D. students. The interests of the Lodz - based historians span from the beginning of the twentieth century to the turn of the 1980s, with a decisive predominance of topics within a range enclosed by the years 1914 (or even 1900) and 1939. Some of the staff members participate in preparing a publication initialled by the 'Karta' Centre: 'Opozycja w PRL. Slownik biograficzny 1956-1989' (The Opposition in the People's Republic of Poland. Biographical Dictionary 1956-1989). The particular scientific interests of the institute staff members are described in detail.

2

THE YEAR 1945 IN POLISH HISTORICAL DEBATES

100%

Stobiecki R.

Dzieje Najnowsze

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2005

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issue 4

5-17

EN

The intention of the article was to depict the most relevant opinions expressed in a discussion on the meaning of the year 1945 in Polish history. The sheer volume of scientific and popular literature about the WW II has forced the author to propose a certain selection. The centre of gravity has been shifted to syntheses and textbooks on the history of Poland, although use has also been made of monographs and publicistics. Reflections about 1945 are closely connected with a type of memory which W. Suleja has described as 'reversed', frequently subjected to instrumentalisation and, as Michel Foucault put it, turned into 'the discourse of power'. Memory of this variety provoked a confrontation between official interpretations of assorted events and the reminiscences of direct witnesses, as well as between state and local history. At the turn of the 1980s Polish memory rediscovered other visions of the past. The milieu of professional historians expressed a specific consensus relating to prime issues associated with interpreting the role played by the year 1945 in Polish history. The new approach was tantamount to rejecting a vision which portrayed May 1945 not only as a symbol of the end of the war but, alongside 22 July 1944, as a foundation act of the new rule. At the same time, both Polish historiography and historical memory have up to this day retained a certain conceptual chaos and specific pluralism within the domain of axiology, making it possible to classify the same events and undertakings as examples of patriotism, banditry, or outright national treason. The dilemma whether 1945 inaugurated in Poland 'a civil war' or 'a new occupation' is by no means merely academic. Another example confirming the deep rifts between the Poles involves basic differences of opinion disclosed in the recently held discussion about the suitability of President Aleksander Kwasniewski's presence at the Moscow celebrations marking the end of WW II. We are entitled, therefore, to hazard the thesis that controversies among historians somehow duplicate the competing contents present in the historical memory of Polish society.

3

CONTROVERSIES CONCERNING THE YEAR 1914 IN SELECTED POLISH HISTORICAL SYNTHESES OF THE PAST CENTURY

100%

Stobiecki R.

Dzieje Najnowsze

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2004

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issue 3

5-17

EN

The author intends to depict the Polish interpretations of the WW I and its survey inclines towards the following conclusions. First , the authors of syntheses and parasyntheses, as a rule, treated the titular problem as marginal. Second, the discussed publications disclose a distinct Polonocentrism, which appeared both in ignoring motifs associated with the world history and in stressing the role played by the Polish question in assorted antagonisms between the warring states. Third, a large part of the presented works demonstrates a glaringly schematic approach and a sparse factographic foundation. Forth, the presented interpretations revealed different, at times diametrically so, methodological attitudes. One may divide them into 'traditional', underlining predominantly the political aspect of the events and the roles of outstanding individuals, and 'modernistic', referring to mass-scale activity and anonymous political, economic, and social processes. The latter encompasses the majority of the interpretations originating at the time of the People's Republic of Poland, and referring explicite to Marxism. Finallty emphasis must be placed on the fact that most of the researchers explaining the reasons for the outbreak of the WW I, succumbed to a phenomenon which Max Bloch describes as the 'fetish of the origin'.

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THE LODZ CENTRE OF RESEARCH INTO MOST RECENT HISTORY ON THE HISTORIOGRAPHIC MAP OF POLAND

THE YEAR 1945 IN POLISH HISTORICAL DEBATES

CONTROVERSIES CONCERNING THE YEAR 1914 IN SELECTED POLISH HISTORICAL SYNTHESES OF THE PAST CENTURY