Academic literature on the topic 'Polishness'

This article is a review of Dariusz Kosiński’s Performing Poland: Rethinking Histories and Theatres (Aberystwyth 2019). The author points out that the book is an attempt at introducing several centuries of Polish theatre and performance to an international reader. It is divided into five sections which overlap chronologically, altogether creating a comprehensive presentation of Polish theatre. These sections are: theatre of festivities, theatre of fundamental questions, national theatre, political theatre, and theatre of the cultural metropolis. The author, however, draws attention to a problematic issue in Kosiński’s approach. Throughout the book he emphasizes the role of theatre and performance in asserting Polish national identity while ignoring the complex, multi-faceted character of any national identity.

Polishness in Komarowszczyzna and its surroundings: history and the present dayThe direct reason for writing this article was a reflection that came to my mind during the fieldwork in July/August 2012, which took place in the north-west part of Belarus, in Miadziolski region of Mińsk district. The issue of Polishness in the researched area has been presented from two perspectives: historical and modern. The former predicts appealing to the memory of pre-war generation, while the latter would entail appealing to the current situation of Polishness in Komarowszczyzna and neighbouring villages, which is shaped by the middle generation (born after WWII) and the young people (born in 1970–1990). A comparative analysis of statements of representatives of these three generations has shown that the attitude towards Polishness has changed significantly. From the perspective of the pre-war and partly of the post-war generation, Polishness (i.e. the sense of Polishness) is on the decline. Nevertheless, it is impossible to state that young people renounce their roots or oppose Polishness. They only draw attention to the need of different actions, searching for new possibilities of ‘protecting’ Polishness. Польскость в Комаровщине и её окрестностях: история и современностьНепосредственным поводом для написания данной статьи стал материал, собранный во время полевых исследований в июле/августе 2012 года на Мядельщине – в деревне Комарово и нескольких других близлежащих деревнях (Януковичи, Борисы, Ворошилки и Куркули). Основной целью статьи является представление отношения жителей вышеперечисленных деревень к польскости. Проблематика польскости рассматривается в двух аспектах: историческом и современном. Исторический подход предполагает обращение к памяти довоенного поколения, современный – к настоящей ситуации по отношению к польскости, которую предопределяет среднее поколение (рождённое после второй мировой войны) и молодые люди (рождённые в 70–90 гг.). Сравнительный анализ высказываний представителей трёх поколений указывает на изменениe подхода к вопросу польскости. С точки зрения старшего и частично среднего поколений, налицо исчезновение польскости. Однако нельзя сказать, что молодые люди отказываются от своих польских корней; они лишь обращают внимание на потребность в новых возможностях и решениях, позволяющих сохранить польскость.

Ojciec Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego (1838–1918), Polak pochodzenia kaszubskiego, pełniący w Lecu (Giżycku) obowiązki żandarma, nigdy nie wyparł się swojej polskości. Natomiast matka Wojciecha była rodowitą Niemką i naturalną koleją rzeczy ona miała większy wpływ na wychowanie dziecka. Jednak Wojciech mówił dwoma językami: niemieckim i gwarą mazurską. Literatura naukowa przez długie dziesięciolecia powtarzała, że pod wpływem domu oraz w czasie lat szkolnych spędzonych w Lecu, później w Poczdamie i Rastemborku (Kętrzynie) uległ on całkowitej germanizacji. Dopiero mając 18 lat (1856), dowiedziawszy się z listu siostry, że ojciec był Polakiem, on też podjął decyzję (Entschluss), o przynależności do narodu polskiego. Tymczasem według moich badań proces dochodzenia do świadomości narodowej trwał dość długo. Po pierwsze nigdy nie zapomniał on o polskim rodowodzie ojca, nawet w Poczdamie. Natomiast w Rastemborku zaczytywał się w polskiej literaturze historycznej i to pod jej wpływem postanowił otwarcie przyznać się w 1856 roku do polskości. Zresztą tomik jego młodzieńczej poezji Aus dem Liederbuch eines Germanisierten („Ze śpiewnika pewnego zniemczonego”) potwier�dza, że był niemczony. Powolny proces dochodzenia do polskości potwierdzają jego bliscy znajomi, np. lwowski historyk Władysław Semkowicz.

The Office for National Statistics estimates that between December 2003 and June 2009 the Polish-born population of the United Kingdom increased from 75,000 to 503,000. These statistics provide a contextual background for Shane Meadows’ Somers Town (2008) , a film which portrays a British teenager, Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) who befriends a young Polish photographer, Marek (Piotr Jagiełło), and his father, who is a guest-worker at the King's Cross reconstruction site. This article explores the ways in which Somers Town responds to increased transnationalism and mobility (be it migration or tourism) both in its thematics and through its context of production, and explores the effects of globalisation on British working-class masculinity. In particular, this article looks at how the film offers Polish migrant working-class masculinity as a nostalgic pre-modern foil, which embodies many characteristics of the old British working class. While Meadows' films consistently suggest that British working-class fathers have been harmed irretrievably by the Thatcherite years and post-industrial decline, the working-class community of migrant workers (defined primarily by its strong work ethic) seems to offer a (mythologised) model of good fatherhood and stable masculine identity. In so doing, the film explores what Anthony Giddens calls the move from modern to late modern society, and confirms the preoccupation of Meadows' oeuvre with nostalgia.

This thesis details the maintenance of Polish identities through acts of memory: the (re)production, transmission and reception of Polish cultural practices. The (re)productions and transmissions of Polish identity formations, and the acts of remembrance, are multifarious by nature, and I have examined them in two distinctly different settings ?? in public spheres in Poland, and in the private realms of Australian Polish diaspora. In this thesis, these research settings have been conceptualised as the conduits through which Polish identities are maintained. Polish identity is theorised using a constructivist approach; Polish identities are therefore positioned historically and geographically. Their performances are fluid: they move through time and across spaces. The active maintenance of Polish identity developed as a result of foreign occupations. The partitioning of Poland by the Austro-Hungarian, Prussian and Russian Empires lasted 123 years. From 1795 to 1918 the Polish nation was expunged. Following a brief period of independence between World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII), Poland was again occupied by Nazi and Soviet regimes during WWII (1939-1945). The Soviet occupation continued after WWII with the Soviet-supported Polish government that lasted until 1989. Under occupation ?? particularly during WWII ?? Poland suffered events that have been indelibly imprinted within Polish cultural memory. The macabre nature of this era included the incursion of hegemonic regimes on political and everyday social life, as well as the atrocities for which it is well known. An important outcome of these occupations has been the division of discourses of Polishness, and their remembrances, into distinctly public and private spheres. These periods of foreign occupation brought various attempts to suppress and eliminate Polishness: the cultures and identifications of Polish people. Suppression particularly occurred in public spheres through the prohibition of the Polish language, and by investing the public memory landscape with ideologies that represented the new regimes. By repressing public commemorations of Polish cultural narratives, a new history was written at the expense of the Polish experience. There have been two primary responses to these repressions of Polishness. These responses initially developed during the partitioned period to ensure that Polish language and cultural practices were maintained. First, a narrative and tradition of resistance emerged in reaction to the Russian, Prussian and Austrian partitions. It was enacted through military participation in insurrections and through the production of patriotic Romantic Era cultural artefacts, both of which strengthened linkages to the Polish Catholic faith. Second, Polish cultural practices and language were safeguarded in the private spheres of home. It was in private settings, in Poland and within the diaspora in Australia, that memories and experiences of occupation were passed on and through generations. In Poland, such narratives were often maintained in resistance to those imposed by foreign occupiers and because of the inability to commemorate events of Poland??s macabre past in public. In Australia, identity maintenance has occurred to resist the dissolution of Polishness in a diasporic and multicultural environment. This thesis demonstrates the utility of studying cultural memories as a means of understanding how identity maintenance can occur in the face of adversities, such as the multiple foreign occupations that occurred in Poland, and in diaspora. Moreover, it exemplifies the diverse paths of identity maintenance in different contexts. This thesis shows that despite the distinctive character of both Polish public and private spheres, Polish identities have been informed, shaped and maintained through culturally-enacted memory (re)production. This process is exhibited in the present ?? in Poland and through the diaspora ?? and it occurred despite the repressive aims of various foreign occupiers.

Krzysztof Kieślowski is regarded as one of the most universal Polish film directors. However, the author wishes to argue that his work was deeply rooted in his sense of Polishness. In terms of research methods, this thesis utilises the existing abundant li terature on nation and nationalism to provide an overview of the topic and builds its own theoretical framework and a working definition of Polishness. The latter is influenced by the author’s studies of both English and PolishPolish-language materials. In the c ase study part, this paper mostly uses primary sources, mainly Kieślowski’s films to find traces of Polishness in them. The analysis builds on the theoretical tools illustrated in the first section. This thesis offers two s ets of conclusions. With regard to the theory, it suggests that Polishness is diverse and very contradictory. With regard to the case of Krzysztof Kieślowski, this thesis concludes that his work can be fully understood and appreciated only in the light of his national identity and experi ence presented in his early films made in Poland. It provides as well some explanation of some typical Polish customs to help to better understand Kieślowski and his films by introducing some insight into Polish traditions and characteristics. Finally, the author recommends further research into Polishness in the work of other Polish directors working abroad.

This thesis interrogates the relationship between the emerging transnational field of nation branding practice and Polish national identity discourse. It sets the analysis of its findings in the contexts of the dominant neo-liberal political economy and promotional culture in Poland, but its examination considers the socio-historical conditions of the post-Soviet era accompanying nation branding as a nation building process. By considering specific settings, it outlines a reflexive case study, addressing a shift in the economy of practices at the crossovers of the Polish state’s structures, business groups, the mass media, and cultural intermediaries of nation branding. This study draws from Bourdieu’s theoretical oeuvre, nationalism scholarship, and corporate communications models. First, it demonstrates the growing impact of corporate communications models on the state as a democratic polity. Second, it sketches out the foundations for the empirical part of the study. Methodologically, it uses an interpretive approach to reveal collective action accompanying the nation branding exercise in Poland. It draws from a range of data to reconstruct the contested vision of the field of nation branding and the dynamics of the relationship between institutional and individual actors performing nation branding in Poland. The findings of this study unfold the implications of the imposition and invasion of nation branding within the Polish field of power, specifically with regards to the marketisation of Polish national identity, its co-construction and reproduction; attempts to further corporatise overseas propaganda on behalf of the Polish field of power; and a growing impact of private sector consultants on public policy making in post-Soviet Poland. Primarily, this thesis argues that one of the biggest consequences of the invasion of nation branding in Poland is the emergence of corpo-nationalism - a form of economic nationalism which was a weak component, until now, of political economy changes in Poland, post 1989.

In this ethnographic study, I explore the ways, in which the engagement of Polish Catholics with Swedish society generates both adaptation and resistance. The thesis begins with an overview of the history of the Swedish Catholic Church and notes how Poles became one of the most numerous immigrant groups in Sweden during past decades. I then make use of fifteen in-depth interviews along with more than twenty sessions of observation in a Polish milieu in the Mälaren Valley. Polish Catholics often consider themselves, as one put it, as "weird creatures" in Sweden, not only for being a religious minority, but also due to conflicts between Catholic moral teachings and prevailing modern liberal views in Swedish society. Also, interviewees tend to blame Sweden for weakening the religiosity of their compatriots. Catholicism often presents particular challenges for the adaptation and integration of Poles, especially teenagers, who are, as one out it, seen "like freaks here". Also notable is the controversial stance of parishioners and the clergy on gender questions. While many laity see feminism as a threat, some priests assert that "feminism and Catholicism have so much in common". Among other challenges for the religious life of Poles in Sweden are consumerism, which leads to the formulation "prosperity destroys people" and is seen as a competitor to the church; and the Swedish language, which divides first and second generations. Interviewees also express shared interests with Muslims and solidarity with Orthodox Christians.

L’histoire moderne de la Pologne est marquée au sceau des migrations et de l’exil. Depuis les années 1830, il n’est pas une décennie au cours de laquelle des Polonais n’aient pas trouvé un refuge patriotique ou économique, en Grande-Bretagne, de façon transitoire ou définitive. Néanmoins, avant 1939, un nombre réduit de citoyens polonais réside en Grande-Bretagne. En mai 1940, la chute de la France, terre d’accueil provisoire, précipite l’arrivée de soldats polonais et du Gouvernement en exil de Pologne. La Conférence de Yalta en février 1945 ramènera les civils polonais sur les chemins de la diaspora, mais les quelque 160 000 Polonais sont pour la plupart nés dans la jeune Deuxième République de Pologne, indépendante de 1918 à 1939. Leurs origines socioculturelles sont variées. Néanmoins, quelles que soient leurs aspirations pour l’avenir, ils pensent presque tous les poursuivre dans une Pologne indépendante à l’issue de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Le monde bipolaire de 1945 en décide autrement car leur patrie ne va recouvrer qu’une indépendance toute relative
Poland’s modern history has been bearing the mark of migration and exile. Ever since the 1830s, every decade has seen Poles finding a patriotic or economic refuge in Great-Britain, temporarily or permanently. However, before 1939, a small number of Polish-born people lived in Britain. In May 1940, the fall of France that had been a provisional asylum, hastened the influx of Polish soldiers and of the Polish Government-in-Exile, while the outcomes of the Yalta Conference in February 1945 led the Polish civilians onto the way of diaspora again. Most of those 160,000 Poles were born into the infant Second Republic of Poland that was independent from 1918 to 1939. Their backgrounds were varied. Nevertheless, whatever their aspirations for the future might have been, most expected to pursue them in an independent Poland after WWII. The bipolar world of 1945 decreed otherwise, for their motherland only gained back a very relative independence

Przedmiotem pracy jest książka Aleksandra Kamińskiego Kamienie na szaniec, opublikowana po raz pierwszy w 1943 roku w wydawnictwie podziemnym. Książka szybko zyskała popularność, stała się legendą, a w okresie powojennym – lekturą szkolną. W rozdziale pierwszym zastanawiam się nad związkami pomiędzy różnymi sposobami lektury książki. Analizuję pojęcia: legenda, lektura, mit, oceniając ich przydatność do analiz Kamieni na szaniec. Przedstawiam także ważną metodologicznie koncepcję podziału na bios i logos historii, zaczerpniętą od Wacława Berenta. Bios, to historia złapana na gorąco, w całej swojej złożoności, logos – opowieść o historii. Przywołuję także pochodzące od Marii Janion rozróżnienie na mit (zastygający w kształt „zbiorowego komunału”) i konkret („zawierający nieodpartą prawdę szczegółu”), które będzie patronować moim rozważaniom nad książką Kamińskiego. W rozdziale drugim analizuję skomplikowany status gatunkowy dzieła i jego konsekwencje dla recepcji i interpretacji. Przedstawiam też sylwetkę autora jako pisarza, dla którego praktyki słowne i piśmienne były narzędziem wychowawczym. Analizuję młodzieńczy pamiętnik Kamińskiego. W rozdziale trzecim zajmuje się biografią autora do wybuchu wojny, starając się zrozumieć jego pojmowanie i doczuwanie harcerstwa, patriotyzmu, idei służby. Rozdział czwarty prowadzi w stronę książki. Przedstawiam środowisko, z którego wywodzili się jej bohaterowie, prowadzę „śledztwo” w sprawie przynależności Jana Bytnara do ONR, zastanawiam się też, czym było w okresie międzywojennym harcerstwo, oraz jak pisać historię tego ruchu młodzieżowego. Rozdział piąty poświęcony jest książce. Opisuję jej genezę: aresztowanie, odbicie i śmierć Jana Bytnara – Rudego. Analizuję, jak kwestie związane z cielesnością i bólem fizycznym zostały potraktowane w książce, a jak w innych tekstach Kamińskiego. Przedstawiam, jak doszło do napisania przezeń Kamieni na szaniec i jakie były pierwsze reakcje na książkę. Studiuję różnice między pierwszym wydaniem, a następnymi. Z drobiazgowego badania „różnic najmniejszych” wyprowadzam projekt lektury gęstej, jedną z możliwości czytania Kamieni na szaniec. W rozdziale szóstym omawiam przypadki recepcji książki. Wybieram pięć takich przypadków, które wydają mi się najbardziej symptomatyczne dla pewnych typów lektury oraz ukazują pewne modele uczestnictwa w kulturze polskiej. Są to: powojenny „spór o Conrada” między Janem Kottem a Marią Dąbrowską, w tle którego pojawia się książka Kamińskiego; analiza działalności twórczej i pisarstwa Barbary Wachowicz, popularyzatorki i strażniczki pamięci o bohaterach Kamieni na szaniec; esej Janusza Tazbira Kamienie milowe polskiej świadomości; ekranizacja książki z roku 2014 w reżyserii Roberta Glińskiego, oraz dyskusje, jakie wywołał ten film; wreszcie, gorąca dyskusja wokół sugestii interpretacyjnych Elżbiety Janickiej, zawartych w depeszy Polskiej Agencji Prasowej, z kwietnia 2013 roku. W tej ostatniej części interesuje mnie zarówno to, co powiedziała Janicka, jak i to, z jakimi reakcjami spotkały się jej wypowiedzi. W zakończeniu przywołuję kontynuację Kamieni…, książkę Zośka i Parasol z roku 1957. Jej analiza prowadzi mnie do ponownego sformułowania pytań jak dziś można czytać Kamienie na szaniec i przywołania rozpoznania Marii Janion o konieczności odnawiania znaczeń, a więc nieustannego „czytania jeszcze raz
The topic of this dissertation is Aleksander Kamiński’s novel Stones for the Rampart, first published in 1943 by the Polish underground press. The book quickly gained popularity, acquired legendary status and in postwar period has become a mandatory reading in Polish schools. In the first chapter I examine issues revolving around the ways in which a book can be read. I analyze concepts such as legend, reading, myth and their usefulness for the the different interpretations of the book. I also introduce the (metholodically significant) distinction between bios and logos of history, as conceptualized by Wacław Berent. Bios means here the living history, everything that was happening in statu nascendi of history: actions, feelings, emotions and thoughts of people who were creating the history themselves. Logos on the other hand is an established model of historical consciousness, perpetuated by myths, legends, gossip, school textbooks, and what passes for common sense. I also examine Maria Janion’s distinction between the myth and the reality, which is important for my further reflection on Kamiński’s book. In the second chapter I analyze the complex status of the genre of the book and its repercussions for its reception and interpretation. I also present the portrait of the author for whom the literary and oral practices were educational tools. Moreover, I also analyze Kamiński’s diary. In the third chapter I examine Aleksander Kamiński’s biography until the outbreak of Second World War, attempting to understand his views on scouting, patriotism and service. The fourth chapter leads me towards the book. I present the social background of the book’s characters; I conduct an “investigation” to see if Jan Bytnar was a member of ONR (National Radical Camp). I also reflect on the nature of scouting in the interwar period and propose a/my version the history of this youth movement. Furthermore, I suggest how to develop methodological tools to new, broad understanding of (polish) scouting. The fifth chapter is dedicated to the book itself. I describe its origins—the arrest, rescue and death of Jan Bytnar (Rudy). I analyze how the issues of physical pain and corporeality are described in Stones for the Rampart and compare these descriptions to the other texts written by Kamiński’s. I retrace the origins of the book and the reception of its first edition. Thereafter, I compare the differences between the first and subsequent editions of the book. This scrupulous account of “the smallest differences” allows me to propose a “thick reading” of Stones for the Rampart, a possible way of reading, interpreting and understanding the book. In the sixth chapter I outline and examine other, different ways of reading the book. I have chosen five case studies which seem to me the most demonstrative modes of reading and of participating in Polish culture. These are: the postwar “Polemic over Conrad” between Jan Kott and Maria Dąbrowska, a dispute with Stones for the Rampart in the background; the analysis of writings and activism of Barbara Wachowicz, promoter and the keeper of lore about the book’s characters; Janusz Tazbir’s essay “Milestones of Polish National Identity”; a 2014 movie adaptation of the book, directed by Robert Giliński, as well as the discussions sparked by the movie; and finally—the controversies regarding Elżbieta Jannicka’s interpretative suggestions. In this case I examine her own thesis, as well as responses it triggered. In the dissertation’s conclusion I present Stones for the Rampart’s continuation: 1957 book about two scouting battalions of the Home Army, “Zośka” and “Parasol”. This analysis brings me back to the questions of how can read Stones for the Rampart be read today, highlighting Maria Janion’s assertion about the necessity of rediscovering the meanings, or never-ending practice of “reading once again”.

Praca oparta została na omówieniu postaci czterech warszawskich kolekcjonerów, których (poza Bronisławem Krystallem) określić można jako nieznanych. Edward Reicher, Leon Franciszek Goldberg-Górski, Gustaw Wertheim i Bronisław Krystall to przedstawiciele szczególnej, w dużym stopniu zapomnianej dziś warstwy – burżuazji i inteligencji pochodzenia żydowskiego. Bardzo wielu kolekcjonerów warszawskich (i nie tylko, również łódzkich, wrocławskich, krakowskich) wywodziło się właśnie z tzw. kręgów zasymilowanych, akulturowanych do polskości (w zależności od zaboru również do niemieckości). Tadeusz Jaroszewski w jednym z pierwszych tekstów o kolekcjonerstwie finansjery warszawskiej powoływał się na badania Joanny Hensel, które: „[…] wykazały niezbicie, że w Warszawie w ostatnim czterdziestoleciu ubiegłego stulecia i na początku bieżącego obrazy kupowali przede wszystkim Bersohnowie, Blochowie, Epsteinowie, Fajansowie, Flatauowie, Goldfederowie, Goldstandowie, Grossmanowie, Hermanowie, Kronenbergowie, Lesterowie, Natansonowie, Poznańscy, Rosenbaumowie, Rotwandowie, Welliszowie, Wertheimowie i Wieniawscy, a więc przedstawiciele rodzin całkowicie zasymilowanych i nieraz bardzo dla kultury polskiej zasłużonych” . Ustalenia Joanny Hensel, na które powoływał się Tadeusz Jaroszewski znajdują potwierdzenie m.in. w źródłach archiwalnych w Muzeum Narodowym w Warszawie oraz w Sprawozdaniach TZSP z lat 1880-1939. To oczywiście nie oznacza, że jedynymi nabywcami byli kolekcjonerzy pochodzenia żydowskiego. Stanowili jednak na tyle znaczącą grupę, że należy zjawisko to wyszczególnić i zastanowić się nad jego źródłem. Mamy do czynienia z osobnym, dotąd nieopisanym problemem z pogranicza historii sztuki oraz historii społecznej. Choć wśród badaczy proweniencji istnieje świadomość faktu, że tzw. asymilanci masowo kupowali sztukę, temat - traktowany jest powierzchownie. Problem tzw. kolekcji żydowskich zazwyczaj kwituje się stwierdzeniem, że było to płytkie i wtórne naśladowanie obyczaju warstw ziemiańsko-arystokratycznych, wynikające z gwałtownego wzbogacenia się tejże grupy w drugiej połowie XIX wieku. Wyłączając wartościującą ocenę, jest to oczywiście w wymiarze historii społeczno-ekonomicznej prawda, a raczej jej mikroskopijny fragment. Poprzestanie na takim wytłumaczeniu zjawiska bez uwzględnienia ważnych procesów społeczno-kulturowych obejmujących Żydów jest nie tylko niewystarczające, ale wręcz wypacza jego sens, pozostawia bowiem ogromny margines dla uproszczeń i schematów sprowadzających całe zagadnienie do stereotypu bogatego „Żyda kolekcjonera”. Ta swoista klisza myślowa utrwalona w powszechnej świadomości przez Reymontowski obraz lodzermensza, bezwzględnego kapitalisty, nuworysza pozbawionego obycia, zbierającego nie dla wyższych ideałów, nie dla ogółu, lecz dla zaspokojenia własnej pychy i dla zbytku nie odpowiada kontekstowi warszawskiemu. Warszawę cechowała inna niż Łódź specyfika relacji społecznych, stanowiła centrum polonizującej się inteligencji pochodzenia żydowskiego. Schemat „Żyda kolekcjonera” funkcjonuje na ogół jako przeciwieństwo, swoisty semantyczny negatyw kolekcjonerstwa arystokratyczno-ziemiańskiego, ugruntowanego rodowymi tradycjami, uznawanego a priori za działalność o podłożu obywatelsko-patriotycznym. Gromadzenie dziedzictwa kulturowego przez „innych” jest zatem mniej przychylnie odbierane. Kolekcje Rejchera, Goldberga-Górskiego, Wertheima i Krystalla powstały w wyniku pewnych napięć społecznych, stanowiły element identyfikacji kulturowo-narodowej szczególnej grupy, którą Anna Landau-Czajka określiła „trzecim narodem” zawieszonym pomiędzy dwoma kulturami, nie należącym do Żydów, ale też nie dopuszczonym do polskości. Kolekcje były nie tylko rezultatem procesów, ‘brały’ w nich udział pomagając w konstruowaniu tożsamości. Część teoretyczna pracy (równie istotna co część historyczno-faktograficzna), zawierająca analizę zależności między kolekcją a tożsamością pozwala na zrozumienie owego procesu.
The problem of Warsaw collecting seen as a phenomenon of social significance remains an insufficiently studied aspect of Polish cultural life. In this work the figures of four Warsaw collectors shall be presented: Edward Reicher, Leon Franciszek Goldberg-Górski, Gustaw Wertheim and Bronisław Krystall. The listed collectors were representatives of a specific, now largely forgotten, class – the bourgeoisie and intelligentsia of Jewish descent. Many Warsaw collectors came from so-called assimilated circles, acultured to Polishness. This fact finds confirmation in research done by Joanna Hensel, Tadeusz Jaroszewski, as well as in the archival sources in the National Museum in Warsaw and in the Reports of the Society for the Encouragement of Fine Arts from the years 1880-1939. Of course, this does not mean that the only buyers were collectors of Jewish descent. However, they were a group significant enough to merit being classified as distinct, with thought given to its source. We are dealing with a separate, as of yet undescribed problem situated on the borderline between art history and social history. Although researches of provenance are aware of the fact that the so-called assimilants bought art on a large scale, the subject is given only a perfunctory treatment. The problem of the so-called Jewish collecting is usually dismissed with a statement describing it as a shallow and derivative imitation of the customs of the aristocracy and landed gentry, resulting from the sudden enrichment of this group in the second half of the nineteenth century. Excluding the valuing judgment, this is true as viewed through the lens of social-economic history, or rather it is a microscopic fragment of the whole truth. Limiting the explanation of the phenomenon to this single aspect without taking into account important social and cultural processes which affected Jews is not only insufficient, but even completely distorts its meaning, leaving a wide margin for simplifications which reduce the whole issue to the stereotype of the rich “Jewish collector”. The schematic image of the “Jewish collector” has in general existed as the opposite, a peculiar semantic negative of the collector from the landed gentry or aristocracy, based in national traditions, recognized a priori as performing an action which is civic and patriotic in its character. Thus, the collecting of a cultural legacy by "the Other” is received less favorably. Such a polarizing view of collecting as performed by two different classes results, on the one hand, from a selective perception of history, and on the other, from a limited methodology of collecting studies, which makes it possible to overlook the social context. The collections of Rejcher, Goldberg-Górski, Wertheim and Krystall were assembled as a result of certain social tensions, constituted an element of the social and cultural identity of a particular group, which Anna Landau-Czajka termed the “third nation”, suspended between two cultures, not part of the Jewish community, but simultaneously not admitted to Polishness. The collections were not only the end result of certain processes, but they 'participated' in them, in this way contributing to the creation of identity. As was noted by Renata Tańczuk, in her studies on the universal nature of collecting as a cultural and social practice: “The collection, being an element of the collector's extended self, is simultaneously his realized identity and a biographical object. It manifests his personal, social and cultural identity. It is not only the material representation of the collector's identity, but it also facilitates its creation process; it allows the individual to know themselves, to become rooted within the surrounding society and culture, gain a perception of the continuity and cohesion of their own existence.”

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created in 1569, covered a wide spectrum of faiths and languages. The nobility, who were the main focus of Polishness, were predominantly Catholic; the peasantry included Catholics, Protestants, and members of the Orthodox faith, while nearly half the urban population, and some 10 per cent of the total population, was Jewish. The partition of Poland at the end of the eighteenth century and the subsequent struggle to regain Polish independence raised the question of what the boundaries of a future state should be, and who qualified as a Pole. The partitioning powers were determined to hold on to the areas they had annexed: Prussia tried to strengthen the German element in Poland; the Habsburgs encouraged the development of a Ukrainian consciousness in Austrian Galicia to act as a counterweight to the dominant Polish nobility; and Russia, while allowing the Kingdom of Poland to enjoy substantial autonomy, treated the remaining areas it had annexed as part of the tsarist monarchy. When Poland became independent after the First World War, more than a third of its population were thus Ukrainians, Belarusians, Germans, Jews, and Lithuanians, many of whom had been influenced by nationalist movements. The core chapters in the book focus especially on the triangular relationship between Poles, Jews, and Germans in western Poland, and between the different national groups in what are today Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. In addition, the New Views section investigates aspects of Jewish life in pre-partition Poland and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

This chapter examines how Chopin was seen both as an exile who was quite at home in Paris as well as the authentic voice of a nation. Since Chopin was cut off from his homeland, he supplanted the “tangible” with a wary construct, an aesthetic invention in music that in implicit and explicit ways offered an account of the character, sensibilities, and aspirations of Polishness, which then took hold inside and outside his native Poland. Chopin's capacity to express solitude and loneliness, and to exemplify the Romantic notion of the subjective in art, deepened because of the personal toll exile exacted from him. Chopin, despite his extensive socializing in Paris and his legendary charm and wit, believed himself destined to live and die alone.