Zbytkowne hobby ziemian czy racjonalna gospodarka? Łowiectwo na Pomorzu w okresie dwudziestolecia międzywojennego

• Authors: Tomasz Łaszkiewicz

Title variants

EN

Luxurious hobby or rational activity? The hunting economy in Pomerania during the interwar period

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The author of the article attempts to outline the status of hunting in Pomerania during the Second Polish Republic, when it was no longer reserved purely for the nobility, but yet still remained a pastime for owners of land. Undoubtedly, hunting was an important element of a landowner’s everyday life but was accessible to only minor burghers and was completely out of bounds to poorer inhabitants of towns and villages. The author describes hunting organizations, forms of hunting, issues connected with pedigree dog breeding, shooting and poaching. The most important issues raised by the author is the question posed in the title. Was hunting only an idle atavistic entertainment for landowners, or was it part of the rational management of a farm? The article presents various attitudes and opinions; the author demonstrates that for landowners, to a larger extent than for the representatives of city elites associated with hunting clubs, hunting was part of a rational economy. Hunting helped them to protect their crops; nevertheless, they managed to reconcile this need with the respect they felt for forest fauna, their passion and hunting ethics. Since hunting constituted an additional source of income, they made an eff ort to raise the quantity of game and looked aft er its physical well-being. To a great extent managing forest game resembled the breeding of farm animals, the only diff erence being that it took place in open spaces.

Keywords

EN

everyday life; hunting; landed gentry; agriculture; the Second Polish Republic

• Publisher: Towarzystwo Naukowe w Toruniu
• Journal: Zapiski Historyczne
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 78
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 39-58

Contributors

author

Tomasz Łaszkiewicz

• Instytut Historii PAN Toruń