Norman Davies. Heart of Europe. A Short History of Poland. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1984. Pp. xxi, 511.

Author(s):  
L. R. Lewitter

This chapter examines Norman Davies's Heart of Europe (1984). The delicate subject of Polish–Jewish relations in history, not being strictly relevant to the main theme of Heart of Europe, receives little attention. Davies writes with sympathy about the extermination of most of the Jewish community by the Germans during the last war and with restraint about the participation of Jews in the activities of the Communist Party before the war and in those of the political police in the post-war period. Those who regard the Poles as traditional anti-semites will do well to note the autonomy and the scope for economic activity and religious life enjoyed by the Jewish community in the Republic of Poland–Lithuania. In the later 19th and early 20th centuries, a conjunction of pressure and reform opened the flood gates of a reservoir of Jewish talent stored up in those areas, making a unique contribution to Polish, and very soon also to western European culture. Nevertheless, Heart of Europe can be considered as an initiation into the arcane elements of Polish history and politics.

Author(s):  
Andrzej Chojnowski

This chapter addresses the Jewish community of the Second Republic in Polish historiography of the 1980s. The problem of the ethnic minorities in the Second Republic – their socio-economic situation, their role in the political and cultural life of the country, their relations with the state – is one of the most neglected fields of post-war Polish historiography. The situation improved only slightly in the 1970s, minimally as regards the Jewish question; in Poland, this still remains the domain of highly specialized publications which do not reach the general reader. To be sure, the authors of synthetic or monographic studies concerning the history of the Second Republic have been unable totally to ignore the problem of the nationalities, although their approaches often give rise to reservations. For instance, when Andrzej Ajnenkiel published in 1980 the second volume of his political history of Poland, national minorities were treated sparingly. In describing the results of the 1931 census, the author briefly discusses the size and socio-professional structure of the Jewish population and the rising influence of the Zionist movement in the second half of the 1930s. Elsewhere, the Jewish population appears almost exclusively as the object of anti-semitic propaganda and pogroms organized by nationalists of both Polish and, more rarely, Ukrainian camps.


Istoriya ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11 (109)) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Stefan Karner

In this article, the reader is offered not just the history of the formation of the Austrian People's Party, but in a broader sense, the internal political development of the Republic of Austria after 1945. Based on a wide range of historical sources, the development of the political consensus in Austria in the post-war period, the peculiarities of the formation of the foreign policy course and the choice of the policy of neutrality by Austria are shown. Special attention is paid to major Austrian political figures and their vision of strengthening and further development of Austria after the war.


Author(s):  
Timur Gimadeev

The article deals with the history of celebrating the Liberation Day in Czechoslovakia organised by the state. Various aspects of the history of the holiday have been considered with the extensive use of audiovisual documents (materials from Czechoslovak newsreels and TV archives), which allowed for a detailed analysis of the propaganda representation of the holiday. As a result, it has been possible to identify the main stages of the historical evolution of the celebrations of Liberation Day, to discover the close interdependence between these stages and the country’s political development. The establishment of the holiday itself — its concept and the military parade as the main ritual — took place in the first post-war years, simultaneously with the consolidation of the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. Later, until the end of the 1960s, the celebrations gradually evolved along the political regime, acquiring new ritual forms (ceremonial meetings, and “guards of memory”). In 1968, at the same time as there was an attempt to rethink the entire socialist regime and the historical experience connected with it, an attempt was made to reconstruct Liberation Day. However, political “normalisation” led to the normalisation of the celebration itself, which played an important role in legitimising the Soviet presence in the country. At this stage, the role of ceremonial meetings and “guards of memory” increased, while inventions released in time for 9 May appeared and “May TV” was specially produced. The fall of the Communist regime in 1989 led to the fall of the concept of Liberation Day on 9 May, resulting in changes of the title, date and paradigm of the holiday, which became Victory Day and has been since celebrated on 8 May.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rizka Wahyu Nurmalaningrum

Often the link between politics, economics and history escapes our attention so far. Much of the history of Indonesian development even the political history of the Indonesian nation itself has been forgotten by this millennial era society. They prefer mobile phones rather than books. Prefer cellphones from history. Even though history is important. The successors of the nation in the millennial era are more concerned with social media than knowing the origin of a country. Many do not understand the history of someone who can become president. There are various theories about history, such as Aristotelian theory, and the theory of plateau. Arisstoteles can be made a reference for learning for the ideals of the State with a fair and calm manner. The discussion with this theme takes the example of the fall of Soeharto as President of the Republic of Indonesia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 515-525
Author(s):  
Andrzej Demiańczuk

In recent decades, there was a notable surge of interest in the history of the Republic of China (1912–1949). New Life Movement (Xin shenghuo yundong) was one of the most important en-deavours undertaken during the so-called Nanjing Decade (1927–1937) — a period of authoritarian rule of Guomindang (National Party), after the triumph of the Northern Expedition and before the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Inaugurated in 1934, this movement sought to revive Confucian virtues and create better society through the promotion of proper behaviour (especially etiquette and hygiene). Virtues, whose realisation in daily life was stated as the goal of the Move-ment, were li — propriety, yi — right action, lian — integrity, and chi — a sense of shame. Later, these goals were expanded to include promotion of militarisation (junshihua), aesthetic uplifting (yishuhua), and improving the production (shengchanhua) in peopleʼs lifestyles. Although the New Life Movement was initiated by Chiang Kai-shek on 19 February 1934 in Nanchang, in many respects it was a continuation of previous policies. To realise the New Life Movement, the Society for the Promotion of the New Life Movement (Xin shenghuo yundong cujin hui) was founded in 1934. Members of different factions in Guomindang participated in its activities. After the first two years, the New Life Movement disappeared from the spotlight, but remained active at least until 1948. During the war, the main task of the movement was participation in war efforts and, after the conflict ended, in post-war recovery. In the end, the New Life Movement failed in realisation of its stated goals. Nevertheless, it seems that its activities were still beneficial for Guomindang’s government. This article presents an outline of history and origins of the New Life Movement, as well as describe its goals and methods. In the end, there will be an evaluation of this important and controversial movement and its place in the history of Guomindang and China.


Author(s):  
Kanybek A. Kudayarov ◽  

Kyrgyzstan, like other states of the post-Soviet space, has passed a challenging path in its development since gaining independence. Three de- cades of the republic’s existence in the new geopolitical conditions revealed the peculiarities of its political, socio-economic and cultural evolution, that distinguish the Kyrgyz Republic from the Central Asian neighbours and other republics of Commonwealth of Independent States. Supporting the concept of the history of the Kyrgyz people while preserving certain traditions of the Turkic nomadic civilization has become a fundamental part of the emerging national identity. Another important feature of building the political system in the Kyrgyz Republic is the attempt to create a Western-style democratic state based on its own experience of implementing “nomadic democracy”. The presence of constant zigzag jumps in the evolution of the political system of the republic (i.e., repeated transitions from the presidential form of government to the presidential-parliamentary form and back) can be traced throughout the existence of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, it should be noted that the described processes are due to a special geographical location, which ini- tially affects the formation of the corresponding type of economic management. That in turn, affects the political development of the country.


2019 ◽  
pp. 16-42
Author(s):  
Dónal Hassett

This chapter explores the history of military service in Algeria and across the colonial world before and during the Great War. It introduces the reader to key concepts from the fields of colonial history and First World War studies that are crucial to understanding the political legacies of the entanglement of the colonies and, especially, Algeria with the Great War. Taking a comparative approach, it explains the range of legal categories that underpinned colonial rule within the different empires and considers how the rights and responsibilities they implied were connected to and altered by military service. The chapter also examines the variety of attitudes toward the use of colonial soldiers in the different imperial polities and asks how these influenced the expectations of post-war reform in the colonies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-178
Author(s):  
Girdhari Dahal

The people of Nepal have witnessed different political movements in the political history of Nepal. The political movements are influenced by different philosophies. Gita philosophy as well has marked distinct impact in the politics of Nepal. The people of Nepal had to bear a lot of injustice, oppression and exploitation during Rana rule. Although the governments prior to Rana rule were also not so much democratic, to some extent they were directed to public welfare. At the time of Rana rule there had taken place many reformations in global politics, but Nepali people were denied off very common citizen rights. So, there was a need for a democratic movement in Nepal. In the campaigns for democratic movements then, there was a very significant impact of Gita philosophy. It is found from this study that four martyrs of 1997BS and founder leaders of Nepali Congress and Nepal Communist Party were influenced by the ideas of Gita philosophy and the general public has a great faith on the Gita philosophy. Gita philosophy has formed the foundations for the democratic movement in Nepal. And even after the establishment of democracy in Nepal, there were series of political changes in Nepal. And in the revolutions or campaigns for restoration of democracy or for the republic, there has been a role of different political leaders and as many of the first-generation leaders are still in active politics, we can find direct or indirect influence of Gita philosophy in Nepalese politics. Though the later generations of leadership seem to have less knowledge about Gita, their activities and the political interests matched with the principles of Gita philosophy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5(160) ◽  
pp. 221-228
Author(s):  
Paweł Gotowiecki

The reviewed publication contains post-conference materials, presented during the conference held in 2016 in Warsaw, entitled “The Deposit of Independence. National Council of the Republic of Poland in Exile (1939–1991)”. The volume consists of 18 articles, published in chronological and topical order, devoted to the selected issues of the history of the Polish parliamentarianism in exile during World War II and in the post-war period. The authors of the articles discussed various aspects of the activities of the National Council of the Republic of Poland in Exile, such as the participation of national minorities in the work of the quasi-parliament, biographies of the chosen parliamentarians, or the selected elements of “parliamentary practices”. This publication is not a synthesis but it supplements and develops the current state of research on the activities of the Polish quasi-parliamentary institutions in exile.


Author(s):  
Gulnara Bayazitova

The article examines the tradition of formation of the concepts “family” (famille) and “household” (ménage) in the political theory of the French lawyer, Jean Bodin. The article looks into different editions of Six Books of the Commonwealthto explore the connotations of the key concepts and the meaning that Bodin ascribed to them. As secondary sources, Bodin uses the works by Xenophon, Aristotle, Apuleus, and Marcus Junianus Justin, as well as the Corpus Juris Civilis. Bodin examines three different traditions, those of Ancient Greece, Ancient Hebrew, and Ancient Rome. Each of these traditions has its own history of the concepts of the “family” and of the “household”. Bodin refers to ancient traditions for polemics, but eventually offers his own understanding, not only of the concepts of “famille” and “ménage”, but also of the term «République», defined as the Republic, a term that (with some reservations) refers to the modern notion of state. The very fact that these concepts are being used signifies the division of the political space into the spheres of the private and the public. Furthermore, the concepts of the “family” and of the “household” are key to understand the essence of sovereignty as the supreme authority in the Republic. The author concludes that the difference between Bodin’s concepts of the “family” and the “household” lies not only in the possession of property and its legal manifestation, but also in the fact that the “household” is seen by Bodin as the basis of the Republic, the first step in the system of subordination to the authority.


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