scholarly journals The “Alert” for non-sites of memory: a 1965 scout action of discovering and describing Second World War sites in Poland

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Grzybowska
Keyword(s):  
Public Awareness ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Mass Murder ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Forensic Evidence ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Background ◽  
Second World

During the First Scouting Alert (Poland 1965), scouts were tasked with finding and describing sites related to the events of Second World War. Those were mostly monuments, places of conflict, graves and body disposal pits. The scouts were tasked with finding such sites in their neighbourhood according to information collected from local communities. The campaign resulted in 26,000 reports in form of the registration sheets containing self-made maps, short descriptions of the found sites and answers to several questions on how to commemorate them. The Alert can be seen as a nationwide response to non-sites of memory. The article analyses the reports of the scouts, as well as considering the action as a process. It presents the political background of the action and diagnoses its influence on the results of the reconnaissance conducted - types of places to be found and registered or overlooked by scouts. In particular cases, the Alert generated opportunities during which non-sites of memory could be restored to the public awareness. The paper summarizes the campaign and focuses on two cases: Krępiecki Forest and Adampol, described to present the influence of the Alert on the memory cultures. In the neighbourhood of Krępiecki Forest, the Alert was an impulse to transform a person who saw the mass murder into a key witness. The case of archaeological investigations conducted in Adampol shows the potential of the Alert archive materials to evoke the state of unrest and to become forensic evidence

scholarly journals Architecture and Recreation as a Political Tool—Seaside Architectural Heritage of the Worker Holiday Fund (WHF) in the Era of the Polish People’s Republic (1949–1989)

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Wojciech Bal ◽  
Magdalena Czałczyńska-Podolska
Keyword(s):  
Social Impact ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Second World ◽  
New Facilities

The Worker Holiday Fund (WHF) was set up just after the Second World War as a state-dependent organization that arranged recreation for Polish workers under the socialist doctrine. The communist authorities turned organized recreation into a tool of indoctrination and propaganda. This research aims to characterize the seaside tourism architecture in the Polish People’s Republic (1949–1989) against the background of nationalized and organized tourism being used as a political tool, to typify the architecture and to verify the influence of politics on the development of holiday architecture in Poland. The research methodology is based on historical and interpretative studies (iconology, iconography and historiography) and field studies. The research helped distinguish four basic groups of holiday facilities: one form of adapted facilities (former villas and boarding houses) and three forms of new facilities (sanatorium-type, pavilion-type and lightweight temporary facilities, such as bungalows and cabins). The study found that each type of holiday facility was characterized by certain political significance and social impact. Gradual destruction was the fate of a significant part of WHF facilities, which, in the public awareness, are commonly associated with the past era of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL) as an “unwanted heritage”.

scholarly journals Is Hatred a Major Factor Determining the Contemporary Social Imaginary? / Ist der Hass ein bestimmender Faktor des gegenwärtigen sozialen Imaginären?

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 303-312
Author(s):  
Andrzej Leder
Keyword(s):  
Social Order ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Imaginary ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Second World

Summary In my paper, I analyze hate as one of the important factors that influence and structuralize the symbolic sphere. In the first step, I define the notion of “symbolic sphere”. Then, I analyze hate from the phenomenological and psychoanalytical points of view. My next step is a historical digression, concerning the place of hate in the social order. Next, I describe some important phenomena of the contemporary societies conditioned by the influence of hatred. Finally, I investigate which notions of the social theory are adequate to describe this kind of phenomena. Hate has been most frequently apprehended as a sudden eruption of bare violence. It was supposed to transform the symbolic sphere through sharp, directly aggressive, and often unexpected actions. Nevertheless, in societies wherein the symbolic legitimization of the political and social order was established as the consequence of the Second World War, a deep change in the attitude toward the bare and direct expression of violence took place. Acts of hate in the public sphere became morally delegitimized and symbolically repressed. We should ask then: if the bare violence and the hate determining this violence disappeared from the sphere of social praxis, although they still shape the social imaginary, how are they really founded? Thus, to answer these questions, I will have to ask not about the direct impact of hatred, but about its hidden influence.

An Artist with a Message

Arthur Szyk ◽  
2004 ◽  
pp. 129-145
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Ansell
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Displays ◽  
Book Illustrations ◽  
Political Works ◽  
Second World

This chapter explores the nature of Arthur Szyk's works during the war years. It shows that his exhibitions during the Second World War were markedly different from his earlier ones: in the nature of the works on view, in the frequency of the public displays, and, most importantly, in their intent. Unquestionably, most of the political works were executed more quickly than the manuscripts, book illustrations, or paintings, because of their topical nature and the urgency of the message. Also, the majority of Szyk's work prior to this time had been conceived in the rectilinear format traditional in western painting, with the action unfolding in an elaborated environment — a world complete and separated from the viewer. However, virtually all of the anti-fascist materials were created without backgrounds. The figures occupy an indefinite space, accompanied only by those objects absolutely necessary to convey the idea. This convention breaks down the division between image and audience, focuses the viewer's attention, and hastens the decoding of the message.

scholarly journals Will the World’s Glass after the Coronavirus Pandemic Be Half-Empty or Half-Full?

Südosteuropa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-281
Author(s):  
Dubravka Stojanović
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Great Crash ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

AbstractThe author comments on the political and economic options in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that started at the beginning of 2020. She revisits responses to the crises of the First World War, the Great Crash of 1929, and the Second World War, sorting them into ‘pessimistic’ and ‘optimistic’ responses, and outlining their respective consequences.

scholarly journals SPIRITS, POWER AND THE POLITICAL IMAGINATION IN LATE-COLONIAL GABON

Africa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Cinnamon
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial Administration ◽  
Political Imagination ◽  
World War ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Political Events ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Second World

ABSTRACTThrough narratives of an anti-‘fetish’ movement that swept through north-eastern Gabon in the mid-1950s, the present article traces the contours of converging political and religious imaginations in that country in the years preceding independence. Fang speakers in the region make explicit connections between the arrival of post-Second World War electoral politics, the anti-fetish movements, and perceptions of political weakening and marginalization of their region on the eve of independence. Rival politicians and the colonial administration played key roles in the movement, which brought in a Congolese ritual expert, Emane Boncoeur, and his two powerful spirits, Mademoiselle and Mimbare. These spirits, later recuperated in a wide range of healing practices, continue to operate today throughout northern Gabon and Rio Muni. In local imaginaries, these spirits played central roles in the birth of both regional and national politics, paradoxically strengthening the colonial administration and Gabonese auxiliaries in an era of pre-independence liberalization. Thus, regional political events in the 1950s rehearsed later configurations of power, including presidential politics, on the national stage.

scholarly journals The Societal Relevance of the “Rheinischer Merkur”

2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 180-199
Author(s):  
Regina M. Frey
Keyword(s):  
Decisive Role ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
World War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Societal Relevance ◽  
Christian Worldview ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

At present, there is no societally relevant political newspaper in Germany that is based on a Christian worldview. The Rheinischer Merkur, founded in 1946 shortly after the end of the Second World War and shut down by the German Bishops’ Conference in 2010, was a newspaper of this kind. It went beyond the Christian milieu in the fulfilment of its mission in the public arena. The closure of the Rheinischer Merkur obscures even today the decisive role it played in the elaboration of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany and the substantial quality of the paper. This essay sketches the history of the Rheinischer Merkur and its self-understanding, as well as its decline, locating these in the context of the journalistic autonomies and media-ethical tensions to which every journalistic medium is subject.

Vom Nachkrieg zum Vorkrieg

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Second World

The historical consciousness of the peoples of Europe is still being shaped by their own national histories. The question of the political order that prevailed during the interwar years has remained a perennial issue among historians. The dominant hallmark of this prelude to the Second World War was the rise of dictatorships and the question of whether we can characterise this period as one of uninterrupted crisis. This collection of studies examines the quest for a new European order and the interconnections between domestic and foreign policy during the 1920s and 1930s. It collates different national perspectives in a single volume and asks searching questions about the consequences of the decisions made during the period under examination. With contributions by Dragan Bakić, Maciej Górny, Kurt Hager, János Hóvári, Georg Kastner, Miklos Lojko, Markus Meckel, Ulrich Schlie, Christian Schmidt, Thomas Weber and Werner Weidenfeld.

Conclusion

War Tourism ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 213-226
Author(s):  
Bertram M. Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Local Governments ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
The Self ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Second World

The study of memory tourism to war sites should not exclude the study of tourism during wartime. Both are components of war tourism, imparting meaning to war for both victors and vanquished. Both reflect their eras, whether through the gazes of the curious individual or the political and economic configurations sustaining the tourism industry. Germans who described a newfound appreciation of their homeland after touring occupied France show how tourism worked in two directions, impacting not only on the sites visited but also the self-image of the visitor. Local governments in France now reach a larger tourism public with new technology. A powerful hold of Second World War imagery in France continues to face ethical issues of sustainability and trivialization.

The Political Economy of the Anglosphere: Geography Trumps History

2019 ◽  
pp. 95-119
Author(s):  
John Ravenhill ◽  
Jefferson Huebner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Integration ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Preferential Trade Agreements ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Total Trade ◽  
Trade Patterns ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Second World

Economic integration among Anglosphere economies peaked during the period from 1870 to 1960. Maintenance of Imperial Preferences and the Sterling Area ensured that Britain remained the dominant market for most colonies and Dominions in the early post-Second World War period. Britain’s entry into the EEC, the ending of Commonwealth preferences, and the rapid growth of Asian economies caused the UK’s share in Anglosphere economies’ exports to decline rapidly. Growth in the US market share offset some of this decline until the financial crisis of 2007–8 reversed this trend. The significance of intra-Anglosphere trade has declined substantially – from approximately two-thirds of countries’ total trade in 1913 and in 1947 to just over one-third in 2016. Contemporary trade patterns are shaped more by geography than history. The world economy remains substantially regionalised, especially for manufacturing. Many preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are regional in scope: Anglosphere economies have been prominent participants in these arrangements but their partners are typically neighbouring countries rather than other Anglosphere economies. The EU has been the most active negotiator of PTAs: the challenge for a post-Brexit UK will be to negotiate access to markets equivalent to that currently enjoyed through membership of EU PTAs.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document