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Pašeráci, turisté, kšeftaři. Neoficiální obchodní výměna mezi Polskem a Československem v letech 1945–1989 (pohled z polské strany)

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Kochanowski J.
Soudobé dějiny (Contemporary History)
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2010
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issue 3
335-348
EN
The article considers the sphere of illicit trade, partly suppressed, partly tolerated, that emerged amongst the inhabitants of post-war Poland and Czechoslovakia. It developed soon after the Second World War because of a combination of geographical, historical, social, economic, and political conditions, and considerably expanded with time, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s. It followed on from the earlier practice of smuggling, which had been possible primarily because most of the frontier between the two states (from Racibórz in the east) had been left largely unchanged since the Middle Ages, running through hard-to- access mountain terrain inhabited by mountain people, for whom smuggling had long been a source of livelihood. It was only on this border, in Poland in the late 1950s, that the existence of ‘professional smugglers’ was confirmed. The escalation of smuggling here was also influenced by the relatively quick development of tourism between the two states, after the signing of a 1955 agreement on relations in the border zones, and also by the convenience of illicit exchange for Poles and Czechoslovaks, since economic shortages were manifested differently in each country. One of the traditional items of illicit trade amongst the mountain people was farm animals (especially horses), which in Poland were less expensive than in Czechoslovakia, and, from the mid-1950s onward, gold and hard currency, as well as building materials, which were in extremely short supply in Poland. Tourists ‘underhandedly’ exported or imported a wide variety of goods, mainly textiles, footwear, foodstuffs, alcohol, cigarettes, and electric household appliances. The informal ‘tourist exchange’ between Poland and Czechoslovakia expanded from the traditional areas of the Tatra Mountains also to the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše in Czech, Karkonosze in Polish, Riesengebirge in German) and, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, their centres were Katowice, Zakopane, and Nowy Targ. The development of illicit trade led, from the mid-1970s, to the fact that the Czechoslovak side in particular (similarly to East Germany, for example) took measures to restrict this trade (for instance, putting bans on the export of various goods) and also undertook repressive operations (including uncompromising customs checks and confiscation of goods). Other factors were political unrest, the intensifying economic crisis, and eventually, in the 1980s, the complete lifting of travel restrictions on Poles. At the end of this period, problems with illicit trade were reflected also in the worsening diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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„Tu bratają się sekretarz z handlarzem”, czyli skomplikowane związki gór, ekonomii i ideologii

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Kochanowski J.
Artifex Novus
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2021
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issue 5
4-19
EN
The conclusion of the state commission addressed in 1972 to Zakopane was: “in Zakopane, the state is in a position worse than in capitalism. It has been reduced to the role of not even a night-watchman, but of an unpaid street-sweeper”. The peculiar “autonomy” of Podhale-Region was affected by historical, social, cultural and geographical conditions that are usually mentioned, on the other hand the state was also an important actor and nowise ambiguous. The tendency to take a strict supervision of sectors decisive for the image and the importance of Zakopane and the Tatra region – tourism and sport, existed at the central level since the mid of ‘50s to the ‘80s, but at the regional level, the policy encountered very strong limitations. On the one hand, the reason for that was the emergence of specific social networks linking the private sector with the structures of local government, state and party, or even with the police and judicatory, on the other only thanks to them it was possible – under the organizational inefficiency of the state – to fulfill the modernizing society needs for leisure and related services, that were instantly growing after 1956. Only in the first half of 70s the socialist state was able to provide a relatively rational program, thanks to being an influential factor for modernization mostly thanks to still being in disposal of material resources. However, in the period of disintegration of the system, in the end of ‘70s and in the ‘80s, state’s program was no longer a barrier and alternative for the social actors.
PL
W konkluzji partyjnej komisji wysłanej w 1972 r. do Zakopanego stwierdzano, że „państwo w Zakopanem zostało postawione w sytuacji gorszej niż w kapitalizmie, bowiem zostało zepchnięte na pozycje nawet nie nocnego stróża, ale bezpłatnego dróżnika i zamiatacza ulic”. Na tę swoistą „autonomię Podhala miały wpływ uwarunkowania historyczne, społeczne, kulturowe i geograficzne, typowe dla społeczeństw (wysoko)górskich na całym świecie. Z drugiej strony ważnym aktorem było pod Tatrami również państwo, które od początku lat 50. do końca lat 80. XX w. próbowało objąć ścisłym nadzorem turystykę i sport, sektory decydujące o wizerunku i znaczeniu Zakopanego i regionu tatrzańskiego. Polityka taka napotykała jednak na szczeblu regionalnym na bardzo silne ograniczenia i sprzeciwy. Z jednej strony przyczyną tego stanu rzeczy były specyficzne sieci społeczne łączące sektor prywatny ze strukturami samorządowymi, państwowymi i partyjnymi, a nawet z milicją i wymiarem sprawiedliwości. Z drugiej zaś tylko dzięki przymknięciu oczu na często sprzeczną z obowiązującym prawem aktywność gospodarczą aktorów społecznych, zarówno górali, jak i przyjezdnych, było możliwe – przy niewydolności organizacyjnej państwa – zaspokajanie rosnących błyskawicznie po 1956 r. potrzeb modernizującego się społeczeństwa na usługi rekreacyjne. Dopiero w pierwszej połowie lat 70. socjalistyczne państwo było w stanie, dzięki zwiększonemu finansowaniu, zapewnić w miarę racjonalny rozwój infrastruktury turystycznej (np. Hotel Kasprowy). Jednak już od drugiej połowy lat 70. strukturalny kryzys systemu i w następnej dekadzie jego całkowita dezintegracja doprowadziły do sytuacji, w której instytucje państwowe musiały ustąpić pola aktorom społecznym.
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A ‘Great Change’, or, the Poles’ Unfulfilled Daydream about Having a Car (1956–7)

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Kochanowski J.
Acta Poloniae Historica
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2017
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vol. 115
PL
The political ‘Thaw’ of 1956–7 was in Poland a period of thorough political as well as cultural and social change. While the political liberalisation came to an end rather soon, the team of Władysław Gomułka, the newly-appointed First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Polish United Workers’ Party [PZPR], in power since October 1956, cared much for maintaining and reinforcing their pro-social and reformatory image. The leadership team’s assent for a more sophisticated consumption, part of which was owning a car, helped alleviate social tensions. The models were drawn from the West of Europe and from the United States, which for the Polish society were the major points of reference, as well as from the other socialist countries – particularly, East Germany (the GDR) and Czechoslovakia, where the political and societal significance of motorisation had already been appreciated. On the other hand, offering private individuals an opportunity to purchase a car was meant to be a remarkable tool used to draw the ‘hot money’ down from the market, thus preventing inflation. Cars, imported or Polish-made, began being (relatively) freely traded, at very high prices. This did not limit the demand, as acquiescence for private business operations contributed to the growing of the group of affluent people. While this incited the citizens to develop their own strategies of acquiring cars – not infrequently colliding with the law; the authorities began gradually reinstating the rationing. All the same, the number of private cars quickly increased, to 58,600 as of 1958, up from some 24,750 in 1956. Public discussion started around popular low-capacity (small-engine) cars – whether licensed (Renault, Simca, Fiat) or (to be) made in Poland. However, in spite of the raised expectations the authorities decided that it was still too early for a mass motorisation: this was made possible only in the early 1970s.
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Foreign Residents in Warsaw, 1945–1956

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Kochanowski J.
Acta Poloniae Historica
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2014
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vol. 110
EN
Although it was not before 1989 that Warsaw gradually became a genuinely multiethnic environment, a group of aliens had inhabited the city in 1945–89. Somewhat paradoxically, the Polish capital city’s foreigner landscape proved to be the most variegated, diverse and vivid in the first post-war decade. The Russians, Germans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, or Italians already residing in Warsaw were joined, as part of post-war voluntary and forced (political-refugee) migration, by nationals of Spain, Greece, Korea, Persia, Yugoslavia, or even Canada. The article shows the ways along which they reached Poland and Warsaw, and the various aspects of everyday life of those aliens: work, assimilation, and political entanglements.
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(Nad)morskie pogranicza nowoczesności. Rostock, Kłajpeda i Tallin od lat 70. XIX do lat 20. XX w.

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Kochanowski J.
Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych
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2013
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vol. 73
EN
Coastal frontiers of modernity. Rostock, Memel and Tallinn from the 1870s to the 1920s. (Summary)Three various port cities of the Baltic Sea are discussed in the article: Rostock, Memel and Tallinn. These three cities were selected because of their location in the dynamic south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea region and comparing the related historical, demographic, social, economic and legal and state-related conditions, promises interesting and original results. The article discusses the fifty years between the 1870s and the first half of the 20th century. It was then that the cities had to deal with both the new political situation after the unification of Germany and the technological and globalization processes which occurred at an alarming speed, and – after World War I – the challenges posed by the emergence of new national states. The article attempts to answer the question of whether, how and why Rostock, Memel and Tallinn differed from other maritime cities, and what the sum of their social, economic and political experiences were when entering into the 20th century, in particular the interwar period. It was the interwar period that determined the nature of the cities after 1939 when the fate of all three was united – first under German, and from 1944/1945 – under Russian influence. In consequence, all three faced the transformation challenge more or less at the same time (Rostock in 1990, Memel and Tallinn in 1991). The article discusses mainly the factors that were decisive for the (non)modern nature of the said cities, their (non) compliance with the global technological and economic standards and their reactions to external models.
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„Niepotrzebni muszą odejść”, czyli widmo bezrobocia 1956–1957

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Kochanowski J.
Polska 1944/45-1989. Studia i Materiały
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2016
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issue 14
EN
The “thaw” which was brought up by the year 1955 evidenced a fact, concealed from the late 1940s, that unemployment could exist also in socialist countries. From the mid-1955 the problem was no longer a taboo subject, and in 1956–1957 it even became a topic of open discussions. And although unemployment of the second half of the fifties was often compared to that before the war, some distinct differences were evident. First of all, there was no a uniform system of support for the unemployed which would provide, for example legal, systematic unemployment compensations. There were also some striking regional differences, for instance Upper Silesia (Górny Śląsk) was facing an acute shortage of labour force, while numerous regions of Central and Eastern Poland, especially small towns and rural areas, had unemployment of structural character (the purpose of the so-called “intervention found” of 1956–1958 was, among others, to create new jobs in backward regions). Contrary to that before the war, unemployment of the 1950s did not affect mainly men and (qualified) workers, but women in the first place and employees with low qualifications. The shared features were the lack of jobs for intellectuals and for young people who were just entering the labour market. A characteristic trait of the “thaw” unemployment was also the necessity to employ many repatriates from the USSR, redundant civil workers of the state administration, functionaries of the security services, the party apparatus and (non-)commissioned officers of the Polish Army. An endemic phenomenon in the scale of the whole post-war period was a temporary return to the idea of legal labour emigration.
PL
Artykuł omawia kwestie bezrobocia, będącego w latach 1956–1957 istotnym i szeroko komentowanym problemem. Tekst skupia się na specyfice i uwarunkowaniach polskiego bezrobocia okresu odwilży (szczególnie w porównaniu z podobnym zjawiskiem w II RP), antagonizmach wpływających na obraz rynku pracy lat 1956–1957 (np. zatrudnianie kobiet, chłoporobotnicy), rozkładzie geograficznym, zwłaszcza sytuacji na peryferiach (głównie w miasteczkach) i próbie jej poprawy przez władze (tzw. fundusz interwencyjny), „bezrobotnych specjalnej troski”, czyli redukowanych urzędnikach administracji państwowej, funkcjonariuszach bezpieczeństwa, aparatu partyjnego i (pod)oficerach Wojska Polskiego. Omówiona została też kwestia legalnej emigracji zarobkowej.
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Mathias Wagner, Die Schmugglergesellschaft. Informelle Ökonomien an der Ostgrenze der Europäischen Union. Eine Etnographie, Bielefeld 2011

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Kochanowski J.
Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych
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2012
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vol. 72
8
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„Jesteśmy za biedni, aby urlop spędzać w kraju”. Masowa turystyka i nielegalny handel w latach sześćdziesiątych XX w. Perspektywa polska

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Kochanowski J.
Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych
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2008
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vol. 68
125-150
EN
In the second half of the 1960s consent to tourist trips to socialist countries instantly affected the development of an unofficial trade exchange involving, on a literally mass-scale, the citizens of those countries, with the Poles, the Hungarians and the Yugoslavs in the forefront. The purpose of the 'tourist trade' was to obtain commodities unavailable, expensive or difficult to purchase at home as well as to make a profit. This is the reason why the phenomenon, which fulfilled various social needs, was to a considerable extent tolerated (if not outright inspired) by the authorities. In the course of a single decade the 'tourist trade', which increasingly often transcended also the Iron Curtain, resulted in a professional penetration of markets and recognition of the scale of the existing shortages, requirements, potential and profits and, as a consequence, in devising new supra-system commercial strategies, quite independent of state institutions.
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