okladka

Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022)

ISSN:
1427-7476

Publication date:
2022-12-07

Cover

Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022)

Cechą charakterystyczną dziejów Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej XX–XXI w. była (i jest) dominacja na tym obszarze lub jego części państw autorytarnych i totalitarnych (Rosja carska, ZSRS, hitlerowskie Niemcy, współcześnie rządy Władimira Putina). Dlatego tak ważną rolę odgrywała tu emigracja polityczna jako miejsce działania ludzi narażonych w swoich krajach na represje oraz przestrzeń powstawania idei niemających poza wychodźstwem szans na rozwój. Problematyką wiodącą numeru 39 „Pamięci i Sprawiedliwości” jest emigracja z omawianego regionu na zachód oraz na Daleki Wschód (Harbin), ujmowana syntetycznie oraz przez dzieje poszczególnych środowisk politycznych i jednostek. Artykuły dotyczą wychodźstwa politycznego z Rosji, Ukrainy (Zachodniej i Naddnieprzańskiej), Kaukazu (Gruzini i Czerkiesi) i Polski oraz prób zjednoczenia wysiłków emigrantów w celu obalenia reżimu sowieckiego w ZSRS i odzyskania niepodległości przez narody od nich zależne (ruch prometejski oraz próby jego kontynuacji po 1939 i 1945 r.). Tematem osobnej grupy artykułów jest środowisko rodzinne, poglądy i przebieg kariery politycznej wybitnego przedstawiciela obozu piłsudczykowskiego płk. Ignacego Matuszewskiego. Pojedyncze artykuły dotyczą: postrzegania Bitwy Warszawskiej 1920 r. przez obcokrajowców przebywających wówczas w Polsce, przynależności nazizmu do lewicy lub prawicy, historiografii obozu koncentracyjnego dla dzieci, istniejącego w Łodzi podczas II wojny światowej, a także działalności stowarzyszeń mających za cel kultywowanie przyjaźni komunistycznej Polski z ZSRS, Czechosłowacją, Jugosławią i Bułgarią.

Od Redakcji


Eseje

  • The Socialist-Revolutionary Emigration in Europe in 1907–1914: the moral-psychological atmosphere and centrifugal processes

    Konstantin Morozov

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 15-39

    This article deals with the moral-psychological atmosphere in the Socialist-Revolutionary (S-R) emigration and the centrifugal processes in the S-R party. The article examines why these processes emerged after the defeat of the 1905–1907 revolution, how they progressed and how they were affected by the exposure of Yevno Azef. The author, using the documents of the Party commissions of inquiry and courts, provides numerous examples of deviant behaviour within the S-R Party and attempts to create a system  of norms and mechanisms for countering the processes of disintegration of the Party organism and violation of the unwritten rules of behaviour of Party members.

  • Post-Promethean Prometheism. An Outline of the History of the Promethean Movement after 1939

    Paweł Libera

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 40-64

    In colloquial terms, Prometheism denotes the active policy of the Polish authorities in the East, directed at the dismemberment of Russia and the Polish-supported struggle of peoples conquered by Tsarist or Communist Russia to regain their independence. In fact, the term Prometheism refers both to Promethean thought, which aims at the idea of a common struggle of nations enslaved by Russia to regain their independence, and to the Promethean movement, which was one of the attempts to put Promethean thought into practice. The
    Promethean movement was a part of the interwar period, had well-defined organisational structures and was actively supported by the Polish authorities. The Promethean thought lasted much longer and used to be present in various national and political traditions. The aim of this paper is to try to answer, based on the programme texts, what the Promethean movement was and what it aimed to achieve. The analysis also covers the question of the chronological framework of the Promethean movement - both its beginning and its end. Particularly the latter sparks quite a debate in the scholar community. The study includes 1939, 1941, 1945 as well as later years. The most important part of the paper focuses on the activities of the Promethean movement during and after World War II. Can they be considered a continuation of earlier activities or merely an attempt at reactivation in a completely different political setting? An analysis of the main lines of activity after 1939 allows us to conclude that the Promethean movement, which was formally started in 1925, continued to function until the outbreak of World War II. Attempts to reactivate this activity both after 1939 and after 1945 failed, mainly due to the change in the international situation and the difficulty of finding a country interested in supporting the movement in its previous form. The activities related to Promethean movement faded away in the mid-1950s. Paradoxically, one of the most important achievements of the Promethean movement was the promotion of the Promethean idea, which was still alive and used as a model for building other similar structures in the second half of the 20th century.

  • Russian Political Emigration in the 20th and Early 21st Century

    Boris Sokołow

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 65-91

    The article analyses the different waves of Russian political emigration in the 20th and 21st century and those organisational political forms that emerged in exile. The following aspects were included: the emigration of the opponents of the autocracy before 1917, the emigration of the opponents of the Bolsheviks between 1917 and 1922 and in the following years, the emigration of the opponents of the Bolsheviks at the end of World War II and the emigration after World War II. The subsequent topic is the period from the end of World War II until the collapse of the USSR, including Jewish emigration and the emigration of political dissidents, political emigration in Putin’s Russia, including a new wave of emigration after the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022. Moreover, the fact that certain groups and prominent representatives of the emigration started returning to Russia and the nature of their activities in their homeland, as well as their activities
    in exile aimed at achieving specific political goals in Russia, are also discussed. The article also considers emigration activities in the media and forecasts the possible future
    development of emigration as well as the impact of ideas developed during emigration on the development of Russia, including contemporary Russia.


Studia

  • Russian Social Democratic Emigration during the First World War: from internationalists to defenders (ОБОРОНЦЫ, oborontsy)

    Alla Morozova

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 92-118

    On the vast amount of sources the author analyses the views of Russian social-democratic (S-D) emigrants in Europe during World War I. The positions of the S-D emigrants played the most important role in the development of key ideological guidelines, since it was abroad that the main ideological forces had been concentrated as a result of the mass “exodus” following the defeat of the 1905–1907 revolution. The Russian Social-Democrats faced World War I within a party which was formally united but in fact split into two independent factions, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The war created a new balance of forces within the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party,  and the attitude towards the war became decisive in the formation of new factions. The author traces the whole spectrum of views from internationalists to defenders (so called oborontsy), paying special attention to the positions of Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Bogdanov, the left-bolshevik group “Vpered”, Alexandra Kollontai and Alexander Shlyapnikov, Leo Martov and the émigré newspaper “Golos”/“Nashe Slovo”, Lev Trotsky, Pavel Axelrod and Georgi Plekhanov.

  • The Assistance of Ukrainian Social Organisations to Ukrainian Prisoners of War and Internees from Eastern Galicia in Polish Captivity (1918-1921)

    Wiktor Węglewicz

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 119-137

    The article discusses the activities of Ukrainian social organisations from Eastern Galicia in providing assistance to Ukrainian prisoners of war and internees from this region who were in Polish prisoner-of-war camps between 1918 and 1921. During the period in question, those in captivity were in a difficult food and material situation and
    the Polish military authorities were unable to address it in an effective manner. The activities of the Ukrainian Civic Committee in Lviv and the Samaritan Aid in Przemyśl provided a large – and often the only – support to help Ukrainians survive the period of captivity. Both organisations mostly supported them by sending food and clothing; on top of that, in 1920, they also provided financial aid and the arranged for train tickets for those returning home. The actions of the women of Przemyśl deserve a special mention as they used to provide assistance in the Pikulice camp during the most difficult period of the typhoid and dysentery epidemic in the winter of 1919.

  • The Process of Transition of the UPR Army Soldiers Interned in Poland to Civil Status and their Emigration to Czechoslovakia and France, the 1920s

    Ihor Sribnyak, Natalia Yakovenko, Viktor Matviyenko

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 138-159

    The article reveals the peculiarities of the Process of Transition of the UPR Army soldiers interned in Poland, to civil status and their departure to Czechoslovakia and France during the 1920s. Because of the numerical reduction of internment camps, Ukrainian combatants faced the need to adapt to living conditions in their civil status and further socialise. Most of the UPR Army junior officers were well aware of the need to continue their studies, and in particular to obtain higher education in European universities, which enabled them to have a certain status in their host countries. In an effort to prepare to enter the higher schools of European countries, this category of the former military united into camp student communities. During 1922–1923, many of their members managed to enter Polish universities or go to study in Czechoslovakia, which opened up prospects for acquiring new professions and thus finding their place in life, getting well-paid jobs. Some Ukrainian public and charitable organisations functioning in Poland and Czechoslovakia rendered them significant assistance. The process of the camps’ termination in Kalisz and Szczypiorno was quite long, which afforded Ukrainian veterans an opportunity to develop adaptation mechanisms and adapt to independent life as political emigrants in Poland. In the new environment, the former internees did not stop communicating among themselves, forming public and combatant organisations. At the same time, a significant part of the former internees did not see further prospects while staying in Poland and preferred to relocate themselves in other European countries. Meeting their wishes, the Ukrainian Central Committee in Poland took care of organising their departure to France, which was used by a large part of the former internees.

  • The Activity of Ukrainian Nationalists in the Balkans Between 1929 and 1933. On the Inspection Trip Report of Yaroslav Baranovs’kyy

    Magdalena Gibiec

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 160-177

    The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists formed a network of emigrant organisations in Europe and North America. Expansion towards the Balkans was a natural course of influence for the organisation – both because of its proximity to Soviet Ukraine and the presence of Ukrainians in the countries of that region, but financial and, above all personnel constraints allowed for very modest activities in this area. The Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists met with little support in the Balkans, unlike other places, mainly due to the poor material situation and poor national awareness of the Ukrainians who lived there. The aim of this article is to supplement the existing knowledge of the activities of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists in the Balkans based on the report of an inspection trip Yaroslav Baranovs’kyy made at the turn of June and July 1933.

  • Turkey as an Influential North Caucasian Émigré Centre Between the Two World Wars

    Cem Kumuk

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 178-211

    The article basically aims to shed light on the efforts of the Caucasian peoples to establish a state and unity, especially on the axis of the Caucasian Mountaineers, and their activities emigration activites during the turbulent years of the world. Today, Turkey is home to North Caucasian community representing about 10% of its population. Although this ratio represents a small percentage of the Turkish population, it has a very different meaning for the peoples of the North Caucasus. If we consider that the population of genuine North Caucasians today is half of the population of the diaspora and that only Russians, Cossacks, and other settlers live in many parts of the North Caucasus now, the meaning of the North Caucasian diaspora in Turkey can be understood much better. Although the North Caucasian ethnicities in Turkey were the victims of large-scale assimilation, especially during the first fifty years of the republican regime, they are still of great importance to their homeland. We witnessed the most striking example of this during the 1992–1993 Abkhaz-Georgian war. Within the scope of this article, we will examine the events that developed in the North Caucasus in the years between the revolutions at the beginning of the 20th century and the world wars, and the influence of Turkey and North Caucasian immigrant community in Turkey on the course of events. We also submit the issue of a Confederative Union of the peoples of the Caucasus to the attention of the reader from the perspective of North Caucasian Mountaineers.

  • Between Europe and Asia – Between Catholicism and Orthodox – Father Dr. Diodor Kołpiński (1892–1932)

    Dmitriy Panto

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 212-231

    The research paper takes a closer look at the biography of Rev. Diodor Kolpinskiy, PhD (1892–1932). He was a truly outstanding individual: a Christian, priest, painter, poet, philosopher, writer, sculptor, patriot, political and religious emigrant – this is the simplest way to summarise nearly 40 years of his life. Today, the figure and achievements of Rev. Kolpinskiy are unknown. In his life, in which he was constantly on the move as a searching Christian, he sought answers to existential questions. Tsarist and Soviet Russia, Poland, Austria, Germany and China – these were just the main points on the world map where Rev. Kolpinskiy used to stay for a bit longer. It is important to present the life and work of such a talented person as Diodor Kolpinskiy, who spent one compact part of his life in Poland, leaving behind not only poems, scientific and artistic works, but also his students, to whom he passed on his knowledge and love of the East within the walls of the Missionary Institute and the Catholic University of Lublin.

  • Polish Refugees in Turkey during World War II

    Karolina Wanda Olszowska

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 232-248

    The issue raised in the following article is not particularly well-known in both Polish and Turkish historiography. The author points to the existence of two groups of Polish refugees in Turkey during the period in question: military men passing through the country in transit on their way to Western Europe and the Middle East, and engineers and
    specialists employed locally. He highlights the fact that the Turkish authorities used the assistance of Polish specialists in the establishment of local industries, including aviation,
    and that, on the other hand, the Polish government-in-exile hoped to use the professional experience of these people in post-war Poland. Based on various Polish, Turkish, British
    and French archival materials, it discusses the fate of Polish wartime refugees in Turkey after the end of the war. Contrary to popular belief, the majority of professionals decided to return home, which was due to, among other things, a change in demand for their work in Turkey, but also a desire to return to their families. All of these aspects had an impact on political relations between Warsaw and Ankara.

  • The Polish Government-in-Exile in the German, Polish-language Daily Press of the General Government

    Wojciech Grott

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 249-268

    The German press in Polish, the so-called “gadzinówka”, was an important source of information for Polish society in the General Government during the Second World War. It dealt with, among other things, matters concerning Polish statehood, including the authorities of the Republic emerging in exile and the battles of Polish soldiers on the
    Western Front. This text aims to provide an overview of the scope, narrative style and objectives of the journalism depicting the activities of the Polish government-in-exile
    and the Polish Armed Forces during the Second World War, appearing in German daily press published in Polish. The primary source base are major daily newspapers: “Goniec
    Krakowski” (Cracow Courier) and “Nowy Kurier Warszawski” (New Courier of Warsaw).
    The newspapers in question reported, for example, on the current activities of the government-in-exile, the death of General Władysław Sikorski, and conflicts both with the
    British and the Soviets as well as within the Polish government. The publication of these texts was not dictated by a concern to reliably satisfy the hunger for information of the Polish public in the General Government, but it related to the objectives of German propaganda which sought to influence Poles through “gadzinówka” in order to convince them of the hopelessness of the Polish cause and, by extension, the futility of resisting the occupying German authorities. This type of narrative about the government-in-exile was featured in the German press in Polish throughout the entirety World War II.

  • “It was Good to Live in Harbin ...”. On the Need for Research on the Post-War Re-Emigration of the So-Called Kharbintsy to the USSR

    Jerzy Rohoziński

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 269-290

    The fate of the returnees from Harbin to the USSR in the 1950s and their possible impact on the slow erosion of the Soviet system remain a relatively unknown topic in Poland. Representatives of this group – as spouses of Polish repatriates from Kazakhstan – recently came to our country. It is difficult to say whether such marriages were frequent. While collecting reports from Kazakh Poles, the author managed to find two such people, representing two different generations: a woman born in Harbin, who came with her parents to the USSR as a small child, and a man born in the 1980s, whose father left the city as a child. Their family memories, however, will not be fully understood without showing the historical context and the unique role of Harbin in the social history of Russia. In the pre-revolutionary period, Harbin, as a Russian enclave in Chinese territory, was a kind of liberal experiment, and after the civil war and partially under Japanese occupation,
    the city played the role of a free market for ideas. Due to these factors, post-war Harbin emigrants to the USSR came with completely different baggage of experience, becoming
    a “suspect” group at once.

  • Sergei Melgunov’s Relations with Poles on Emigration

    Łukasz Dryblak

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 291-312

    This article presents a profile of the eminent Russian historian and political activist Sergei Melgunov, against the background of his interest in Poland and his contacts with
    Poles after his departure from the USSR. This little-known thread in the history of Polish and Russian relations in exile can be seen as a representative case study illustrating the difficulties Polish emigrants encountered when trying to establish a dialogue with representatives of the Russian emigrant community. On the other hand, it also provides
    an example of Polish and Russian cooperation in the area of anti-Soviet propaganda. The Russian historian used to be in touch with several Poles in exile, but he stayed with constant contact only (until his death) with his friend – Ryszard Wraga. The example of Mielgunov also shows well how different the understandings of the idea of a democratic Russia were for Poles and Russians. When most Russian democrats, like Mielgunov, wanted to combine the democratic system with the imperial position of their country, the Poles believed that de-imperialisation of Russia was the only to bring it the democracy and freedoms of Westerners.

  • An Ambassador of a Hopelessly Righteous Cause. Kazimierz Papée in a Struggle to Maintain the Polish Embassy to the Holy See in 1945–1948

    Juliusz Jędrzejczak

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 313-332

    This article is a contribution to the biography of the Polish diplomat Kazimierz Papée (1889–1979), who was appointed Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Holy See
    shortly before the outbreak of World War II. He continued his mission over the following decades, representing the Polish authorities in exile at the Vatican. This paper aims to show, from Papée’s perspective, the 1945–1948 crisis faced by the institution he led, which could have led to its dissolution. To that end, it uses not only official documents formulated by the ambassador but also a diary in which he regularly recorded personal reflections and which so far has remained largely unpublished. The article reconstructs the path taken by Papée, which eventually allowed him to overcome the crisis and continue his work. The factors he influenced in the process were identified, as were those he did not. This made it possible to identify two distinct phases of the crisis, which were linked to changes in the international situation. In this respect, the year 1947 was an important landmark. From that moment on, there were more and more signs giving hope that the Polish Embassy
    to the Holy See, together with its head, would not cease to be recognised by the Vatican.

  • The Forgotten “Rare Bird”. Marian Kamil Dziewanowski’s Vision of Ukraine

    Oleksandr Avramchuk

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 333-355

    The article presents a page of Ukrainian history providing an insight into the life in exile of a historian– Marian Kamil Dziewanowski (1913–2005). On the basis of previously
    unknown documents from Polish and Ukrainian archives in the United States as well as existing literature on the subject, a network of Dziewanowski’s Ukrainian connections was outlined, and his vision of the history and contemporaneity of Ukraine in the context of Polish political thought, the tradition of Prometheism and the stereotypes prevalent in the West with respect to Ukrainian history was analysed. By applying tools used in the history of ideas, the intellectual biography of the protagonist was presented against the post-war evolution of the Promethean movement, its tactics and modus operandi in the new geopolitical conditions determined by the Cold War. Analysis concerned the federalist vision of Central and Eastern Europe created by Dziewanowski, for which the
    most important inspiration was the thought of Marshal Józef Piłsudski. This article is part of a broader study concerning the contribution of Polish historians in exile to the formation of Ukrainian studies in the United States after World War II.

  • In the Name of Socialism – Searching for a Place in the World. The Case of Leon (Liber) Gotlob

    Martyna Rusiniak-Karwat

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 356-383

    The article presents the life and wanderings of Jewish Bund socialist Leon (Liber) Gotlob. They reflect the fate of many of his generation – who lived their youth before 1939. Using his example, the author proved that we do not always have a say in where we live and settle, and that certain decisions are forced on us by the political and social situation, as well as by third parties. The outbreak of war in 1939 forced Gotlob to escape from the German aggressor to the east, which subsequently led to his imprisonment and deportation to a labour camp in the USSR. The „amnesty” that came in the summer of 1941 gave the protagonist a chance to find a way out of the USSR and follow the combat
    route in the ranks of the Anders’ Army. This is when the news of the deaths of his loved ones and the Holocaust caused him to tie his life plans to the United States, where he intended to continue his work with the Bund. Following the failure of his efforts to leave for the U.S., while in the UK as a demobilised soldier, he decided to return to Poland
    with his new family, which happened in the autumn of 1947. He was actively involved in rebuilding the Bund committee and the life of the Jewish community in Tarnów until his
    arrest in March 1949. Despite his previous harsh criticism of the USSR and communism, the experiences of losing freedom during the war and in post-war Poland, as well as the fact that he was under surveillance, Gotlob was still able to adapt to the political reality of the time. After his release from prison in November 1951, he was an active member of
    the Social and Cultural Association of Jews in Poland. It was not until the events of 1956 in Poland, and the consequent opening of the road to emigration, that he was able to
    achieve the goal he set earlier. Together with his family and friends from Tarnów, he found himself in America and continued his work in the ranks of the Bund in the free world.

  • The Central Press of the People’s Party “Freedom” in the 1946–1957 Period

    Arkadiusz Indraszczyk

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 384-407

    The People’s Party “Freedom” was a political party established in exile and active between 1945 and 1970. Between 1946 and 1957, it published several central press titles: “Biuletyn Stronnictwa Ludowego ‘Wolność’” (The Bulletin of the People’s Party “Freedom”), “Przegląd Polityczny” (Political Revue), “Instrukcja Polityczna” (Political Instruction), “Wolność i Lud” (Freedom and People) and “Biuletyn” (Bulletin). Most were in-house periodicals published in typescript form. Only the “Wolność i Lud” monthly was published openly as a normal newspaper. The magazines were not published simultaneously. Only after one title ceased to be published would the party undertake to issue another one sometime later. This was due to the party’s poor financial condition, and in the early years, also due to the small number of article and content authors willing to write for the magazines. The main issues covered in the party’s press included justifying the purposefulness of the party’s existence, discussing the organisation and form of the émigré political leadership, contesting the activities of Stanisław Mikołajczyk and the Polish People’s Party he led, presenting the political thought of the party, presenting information about the situation in Poland and other countries dependent on the USSR, as well as the October 1956 transition in Poland.

  • Relations Between the Emigration and the Second Circulation (Pol. “drugi obieg”) Publishing in the People’s Republic of Poland in 1976–1989/1990

    Cecylia Kuta

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 408-431

    The following is a synthesis of the most important aspects of emigration and national relations in the context of the independent publishing activities in Poland between 1976
    and 1989/1990. It describes how these contacts were shaped before the second circulation publishing circuit was established, how the foundations of independent printing in the country were built with the support of the emigrants, and what the selection of works published in the second circulation looked like. The role of emigration and its impact on the clandestine press in Poland was particularly emphasised. The refugee centres, which used to be in touch with the country, were not only informed about its current political, social and cultural situation, but also participated in the domestic conspiracy – at least to some extent. The emigrant periodicals commented on events, published programme documents of opposition groups operating in Poland, reprinted letters of protest, appeals,
    statements, resolutions or declarations, while at the same time these periodicals affected the formation of opposition political thought in Poland.


Varia

  • Ignacy Matuszewski. Who is a Piłsudskiite?

    Krzysztof Kloc

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 432-451

    This article attempts to answer the question of what it meant to be a Piłsudskiite in the thought and political philosophy of Ignacy Matuszewski. The author omitted the
    biography and political activity of the article’s protagonist as they are already relatively well known, and instead focused on his comments on the topic stated in the title of this article that can be found in Matuszewski’s enormous body of works, produced both in the inter-war period and in exile after 1945. The paper presents the attitude of Piłsudskiites towards Józef Piłsudski, the state, independence, and the phenomenon of dogmatism
    in political thought towards which the Piłsudskiites, including Matuszewski himself, showed great reluctance. The author indicated that during the period in question, the
    understanding of the term “Piłsudskiite” in Polish political thought evolved from the name of soldiers serving under Piłsudski’s command to a label denoting all Poles who shared the ideas guiding the First Marshal of Poland.

  • Marshal Józef Piłsudski and Colonel Ignacy Matuszewski. A Few Reflections on their Relationship

    Mariusz Wołos

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 452-475

    Ignacy Matuszewski declared himself a supporter of Józef Piłsudski’s political camp relatively late, namely at the turn of 1917 and 1918. He was quickly promoted in both the formal and informal hierarchy of this camp. As soon as in December 1918, he became an intelligence officer and little over half a year later, in July 1920, became the head of the intelligence. Thus, he turned into one of Piłsudski’s closest associates during the Polish-Soviet war and gained a trust loan for the future. After Piłsudski regained power by a coup d’état in May 1926, Matuszewski worked in responsible positions in diplomacy. In the years 1929–1931 he was the head of the Ministry of the Treasury.
    His cooperation with Piłsudski was positive, even despite the ongoing great economic crisis. In the spring of 1931, however, Piłsudski ordered the removal of Matuszewski
    from the government and refused him any opportunity to work in diplomacy. The reasons for this change of position are not entirely clear. Most likely, it was caused not so much by Matuszewski’s limiting the budget for the army as by his doing so in the absence of Piłsudski and without obtaining his consent. In Piłsudski’s opinion, this was a breach of the rules in force in his power camp and the highest expression of disloyalty. Despite this, Matuszewski remained faithful to Piłsudski’s ideals until the end of his life.

  • Ignacy Erazm Matuszewski – a Critic and Philosopher of Literature

    Olaf Krysowski

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 476-489

    The critical attitude of Ignacy Erazm Matuszewski, the father of the colonel Ignacy Hugo Matuszewski, was hallmarked by ideological eclecticism and inconsistencies that sometimes resulted from it. His ideas can be considered as characteristic for a mind developed in the conditions of intense cultural changes of the late nineteenth century.
    The author of the dissertation Devil in Poetry, educated in an atmosphere of respect for empirical inductivism, aesthetic and critical objectivity, modified his views such,
    that they allowed both the analysis of literary works of positivists and the assessment of the works of romantics and modernists who focused on metaphysical values. This
    flexibility let Matuszewski talk about art as a whole, regardless of established historical and genological divisions or differences between individual artistic disciplines. This flexibility also made his views universal, resistant to changing fashions in criticism. The writer’s
    death on 10 July 1919, which was preceded by deceases of many critics and modernist artists during World War I, created a gap in the Polish literary life at the beginning of the interwar period. Due to this gap, Matuszewski is sometimes called the “great absentee” of literary criticism after Poland gained independence.

  • Battle of Warsaw 1920 in the Opinions and Comments of Western Participants and Observers

    Olga Morozova, Marek Mikołajczak

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 490-522

    The Polish-Bolshevik war, and in particular the defence of Warsaw in 1920, were of fundamental importance for the process of rebuilding an independent Poland after
    the end of World War I. If Poland had lost the battle, it would have meant at best the incorporation of Polish territories into the Bolshevik state. In a much worse scenario, the Bolsheviks would have take control of the whole of Europe. This possibility was taken into account by western diplomats and officers who stayed in Poland in 1920 and left official documents, personal notes and letters. They presented not only the course of the war itself but also tried to reflect the social mood or the political situation of the country facing a deadly threat. The article shows how the representatives of Western countries described the course of the Polish-Bolshevik war at a key moment during
    the defence of Warsaw. It answers the question to what extent the accounts of direct observers and participants in the events connected with this war influenced the policy
    of their governments towards Poland, especially their readiness to help Poles; and, based on the analysed sources, presents social moods which underwent rapid changes during the war of 1920.

  • German Labour camp for Polish Children on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź and the Reckoning with its Post-War History

    Tomasz Toborek

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 523-538

    Polen-Jugendverwahrlager der Sicherheitspolizei in Litzmannstadt commonly referred to as the camp on Przemysłowa Street in Łódź, in operation between December 1942 and 19 January 1945 was a very special place. This is because it was the only place where exclusively children were held under conditions comparable to concentration camps. The article takes a closer look at the reality that minor prisoners had to face and the history of this cruel place. The most important theme, however, is the post-war reckoning with the history of the camp, mainly in the form of trials of child abusers. We also learn how the history of the camp was manipulated in the post-war era to achieve the desired propaganda effect and how its history and victims were being exploited. The author is highly critical of the content of the only monograph on the camp by Józef Witkowski and describes in detail the notorious court case of Eugenia Pol from 1970–1976. She was then sentenced to 25 years in prison. To this day, it is difficult to determine whether the camp supervisor was in fact a ruthless torturer or a victim of a judicial crime. Without settling the issue definitively, the author presents how the unreliable conduct of Eugenia Pol’s trial today hinders the search for the truth and is a pretext for further misrepresentations and manipulations.

  • Right-Wing Nazism? Notes on the Margins of the German Edition of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Other Publications on National Socialism. Research Problem

    Krzysztof Kosiński

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 539-561

    Contemporary literature on the subject predominantly regards German National Socialism as a “right-wing” or “radical right-wing” phenomenon. This trend is particularly
    evident in German and Anglo-Saxon historiography. However, examples from the theory and practice of National Socialism show that this ideology was in many ways the opposite of the traditional right. Hitler’s programme pronouncements demonstrate that he himself
    positioned himself outside the traditional right and left. Different understandings of rightism and leftism in different countries in Europe and in the United States result in misunderstandings in scientific and journalistic discourse. This is particularly evident in the case of Germany and Poland. A side effect of this phenomenon is the fact that some historians and publicists draw an analogy between German Nazism and Polish National Democracy, as allegedly two variants of nationalism, despite their polar opposite axiology.
    The far-reaching goal of National Socialism was to overcome and overthrow Christian civilisation, which, to some extent, linked this ideology to the French Revolution and the Bolshevik Revolution.

  • Establishment and Activity of Polish-Slavic Friendship Associations in the Second Half of the 1940s

    Marcela Gruszczyk

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 562-581

    The paper broadly discusses the circumstances of the establishment, ideological program, and the social-political role of four Polish-Slavic friendship associations from 1945 to 1951. A comparative analysis of the Polish-Soviet Friendship Society (TPPR), Polish-Yugoslav Friendship Society (TPPJ), Polish-Czechoslovak Friendship Society (TPPCz), and Polish-Bulgarian Friendship Society (TPPB) was conducted by a critical analysis of historical sources. As mass cultural organisations, they were perfect for disseminating political matters, and a hidden propaganda tool. In the given period all of them supported operations
    of the Slavic Committee, which alone was an exclusive organisation based primarily on intellectual communities. Therefore, the real objectives, together with the connections of TPPR, TPPJ, TPPCz, and TPPB with the abovementioned Committee were reviewed in detail. The work also attempts to answer why the TPPR was the only friendship association which endured the changes of cultural collaboration oberseas, which took place in Polish
    People’s Republic in the early 1950s.


Dokumenty

  • The Case of the Return to Poland of the Emissaries of the Georgian Government in Exile, Shalva Berishvili and Davit Erkomaishvili in the Autumn of 1930

    Razhden Chikhoria

    Remembrance and Justice, Vol. 39 No. 1 (2022), pages: 582-606

    The article is devoted to the history of the return from Turkey to Poland of Georgian emigrants who, as emissaries of the Georgian government in exile, secretly entered the territory of Soviet Georgia in the summer of 1930 to pursue illegal political activity. The mission was the result of the joint work of the representatives of the Georgian emigration in Paris and the Polish authorities, in particular the Branch II of the General Staff of the Polish Army. The members of the expedition were tasked with re-establishing contact with Georgia by creating a communication network. The installation of the communications center provided that the emissaries would remain in Georgia for a longer period, but their too sudden return (after only two months of stay) aroused the suspicions of the Polish authorities. The situation was additionally complicated by the fact that the emissaries, after leaving the territory of Soviet Georgia, fell into the hands of the Turkish authorities. In the conditions of improving relations between Ankara and Moscow, there was a risk that the Turkish authorities would hand over the Georgians to the Soviet side. It is not fully known what prompted the Turks to release Georgian emissaries who managed to get to Istanbul. Georgian emissaries were convinced that they had performed all the tasks entrusted to them, unlike the Polish side, which did not help in their liberation from the Turkish arrest. For their part, Polish factors suspected that Georgian emissaries were reckless with the tasks entrusted to them, which made the situation more complicated.