Ikonografia witraży Wiktora Ostrzołka w gdańskim kościele Mariackim (1977–1980)

In 1966, a commemorative decoration appeared inside St Mary’s Church in Gdansk: its main component was the painting showing Poland’s Baptism placed in the chancel. Meanwhile, a pillar by the Priests’ Chapel was decorated with a standard bearing striped concentration camp uniform cloth with numbers of priests -prisoners in Nazi camps. This referred directly to the décor of the Priests’ Chapel created not long before, and in which Polish priests murdered during WW II had been commemorated in 1965. Thus the millennial decoration of the chancel clearly associated the history of the Polish state with the history of Christianity in Poland, while the decoration of the Priests’ Chapel emphasized the martyrology of Polish priests. Both motifs were clearly continued in two large –size stained glass windows installed in the church in the late 1970s: one of them fills in the window in the Priests’ Chapel, while the other is to be found in the window closing the church’s chancel. Both were designed by Wiktor Ostrzołek, a leading stained glass designer in post -WW II Poland. The iconographic programme of the first refers to the martyrology of priests, yet it does not limit itself to priests -martyrs in recent history, but shows those connected with it from the very beginning: St Adalbert, Five Martyr Brothers, St Stanislaus, St John Sarkander, St Andrew Bobola and Maximilian Kolbe. Respective figures are interconnected with the use of a clear red line serving as a metaphor of the martyrs’ blood. Its continuity connecting St Adalbert with St Maximilian, thus the beginnings of the Polish state with the present, at the same time shows the continuity of the presence of the Catholic Church in Polish history. This continuity is even more unequivocally expressed by the iconographic programme of the chancel stained glass. Here it is the figure of Mary that stands out; she enshrouds the presentations referring to the Church’s mission, and in particular to the Church’s mission in Poland, in her protective mantle. A deep interconnection between the history of Poland and the Roman Catholic Church was presented in the three acts of entrusting Poland to God and Mary: the Baptism of Poland in 966, the Lvov Oath of John Casimir in 1656, and the Jasna Góra Pledge connected directly with the 1966 millennial celebrations.

Stanisław Gąsienica Sobczak (1884–1942), „odgrzebywacz i promotor oryginalnej ceramiki polskiej”

Abstrakt: Stanisław Gąsienica Sobczak (1884–1942), artysta rzeźbiarz wykształcony na Akademii Sztuk Pięknych w Krakowie i w École Nationale des Beaux Arts w Paryżu, pochodził z góralskiej rodziny z Zakopanego. Był pionierem twórczości ceramicznej na Podhalu. Od drugiej połowy lat 20 XX w. tworzył ceramiczne rzeźby, figury i naczynia, i pokazywał je na licznych wystawach. Większość jego prac miała tradycyjny charakter. Artysta z reguły nawiązywał do ludowego wzornictwa i regionalnej tematyki. Te tendencje uznano za ważne także po zakończeniu II wojny światowej, gdy pracownię Sobczaka objął Wojciech Łukaszczyk. Summary: Stanisław Gąsienica Sobczak (1884–1942), a sculptor educated at the Fine Arts Academy in Cracow and at École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris came from Zakopane highlander family. He was the pioneer of ceramics in the Podhale region. Since the second half of 1920s’ he created ceramic sculptures, figures and vessels which were displayed at numerous exhibitions. Most of his work was traditional in nature. Folk design and regional themes became his main sources of inspiration. Even after WW II, when Wojciech Łukaszczyk took over Sobczak’s ceramic studio, these tendencies remained important.

WIELKOPOLSKA (GREATER POLAND) MILITARY MUSEUM: HISTORY OF AN UNUSUAL MUSEUM

The beginning of historical-military museology in Poznan dates back to the mid-19th century when the Poznan Society of Friends of Learning assumed the responsibility to save historic monuments, and began to establish the Museum of Polish and Slavic Antiquities in the Grand Duchy of Posen (Poznan). The task was to collect archival, library, and museum materials, including militaria. As a result of these efforts, in 1882, the Mielżynski Museum was established which boasted an exquisite painting gallery, containing historical painting, a rich archaeological and military collection, and a sizeable collection of so-called historical mementoes: weapons, orders, decorations, etc. In the aftermath of the Greater Poland Uprising 1918 –1919, the Hindenburg Museum founded in 1916–1918 was transformed into a Military Museum. The ceremonial opening was held on 27 October 1919 by Józef Piłsudski, Poland’s Chief of State. The quickly growing collection was moved from Marcinkowskiego Avenue to the barracks in Bukowska Street, and subsequently to a new seat at 1 Artyleryjska Street in Poznan. The solemn opening of the Wielkopolska Military Museum was held on 22 April 1923 by the Commander of the 7th Corps District Major-General Kazimierz Raszewski. In 1939, anticipating the threat of war, the most precious objects were evacuated eastwards, and looted there. The items which stayed behind ended up in German museums. The mementoes connected with the history of the Polish military were destroyed, and the Museum was wound up. The first attempts at reactivating the Museum following WW II failed. It was only with the 1956 revolt that civil and military authorities changed their approach, The National Museum in Poznan undertook the first efforts. The Museum did not go back to its pre-WW II seat, but found home in a modern building in the Old Market Square in Poznan, to be ceremoniously launched on 22 February 1963 by the Commander of the Operational Air Force in Poznan Brigadier General Pilot Jan Raczkowski. Having recreated its collection, the Wielkopolska Military Museum, already as a Branch of the National Museum in Poznan, has held many exhibitions and shows. Moreover, it has released many publications, and run a broad range of educational activities. Among other projects, it has also made reference to the pre-WW II Museum. On 27 December 2019, a new jubilee exhibition ‘Wielkopolska Military Museum 1919–2019’ recording the 100-years’ history of the oldest historical-military museum in Poland was inaugurated.

A FORGOTTEN HERO: JAN MORAWIŃSKI (1907–1949)

Notes of a Curator at the National Museum published in 1970 in the second volume of the book Struggle for Cultural Goods is the only generally available testimony to saving the Wilanów historic monuments by Jan Morawiński, a forgotten hero from the times of WW II. Additionally priceless because of Morawiński documenting the looting of 137 paintings belonging to the pre-WW II Branicki collection at Wilanów. The above-mentioned Notes were published by the Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy after the manuscript kept in the private archive of the author’s daughter Agnieszka Morawińska. The notes, however, resemble pieces of paper torn from a notebook in which an earlier chapter is missing. The missing chapter does exist, yet for unknown reasons was omitted in the two-volume Struggle for Cultural Goods. Warsaw 1939–1945 edited by Prof. Stanisław Lorentz. The present paper is based on Morawiński’s hand-written testimony, supported by archival sources and recollections of his colleagues from the National Museum in Warsaw (MNW). From August 1939 to August 1944, Jan Morawiński, together with others, was involved in saving precious museum exhibits in the Museum building, but also throughout Warsaw. He was involved in packing the historic monuments into crates which were to help them survive the toughest times, and he helped to put out fires at the Museum, risking his own life. Moreover, he rescued the Royal Castle collections during the hardest bombing of Warsaw, transporting them to the storages in Warsaw’s Jerozolimskie Avenue. For his dedication he was awarded the Virtuti Militari Cross of the 5th class by Gen. Juliusz Rómmel. After Warsaw’s surrender, he was assigned Head of MNW’s storerooms and inventories: when Director Lorentz was absent, he acted as his deputy. In the first period of the Nazi occupation he courageously faced German officials. Furthermore, he headed the clandestine action of inventorying and documenting German destructions and plundering. The knowledge amassed in this way was extremely helpful in the restitution of the looted historic monuments, not only museum ones. He also contributed to documenting the destruction of the Warsaw Castle. Imprisoned by the Nazis, he went through Gestapo’s hands at Daniłowiczowska Street in Warsaw. Later on, he became manager of the Museum of Old Warsaw in the Old Town, at the same time acting as a guardian of the Wilanów collection. Following the defeat of the Warsaw Uprising, he participated in the so-called Pruszków Action in whose course he was badly injured.

IV Individual Criminal Responsibility

This chapter starts with the universal recognition of the concept of individual criminal responsibility in ICL as perhaps the most important result of its historic precedents of Nuremberg and Tokyo. It offers a profound analysis of the ‘historic’ case law on individual criminal responsibility, namely the post WW II case law (Nuremberg, Tokyo, the one by the allied powers and Germany), but also relevant case law on other (mainly) State-sponsored criminality (especially in Latin America). It then turns to the ‘modern’ law of individual criminal responsibility and thus analyses the law and jurisprudence of the UN Ad Hoc Tribunals, of the mixed tribunals and, with a particular emphasis, of the ICC. In terms of doctrine a special focus lies on the forms of participation which enable us to hold the masterminds of the international crimes accountable, that is, joint criminal enterprise (JCE) and indirect perpetration by way of an organization (Organisationsherrschaft). In this respect, the chapter deals with what is probably the most important field of the ongoing theoretization of International Criminal Law.

WWII VICISSITUDES OF THE INSIGNIA OF KING AUGUSTUS III

During WW II, numerous precious art works from Polish public and private collections were looted, displaced and taken out of Poland. In view of the value of some of those pieces, the invaders’ authorities decided to have them transferred to German museums, and this is what happened to the coronation insignia of King Augustus III and his spouse Maria Josepha. German officials took over the regalia which were property of the National Museum in Warsaw already in 1939. Some time after, they were transferred to Cracow, the capital of the General Government. Several months later the insignia returned to Warsaw. In 1941, Dr Hans Lammers, Chief of the Reich Chancellery, requested them. On Adolf Hitler’s decision they were to be transferred to Dresden’s Grünes Gewölbe; in order to be transported there they were taken from Warsaw in 1942. By the end of the war, they were evacuated to a repository of artworks in the cellars of the Königstein Fortress. After WW II had ended, they were relocated, together with other cultural goods, to Moscow. It was only in 1960 that the Soviet regime returned the precious regalia to Poland.

WAR LOSSES: A THREE-VOLUME PUBLICATION OF THE MUSEUM OF GDAŃSK

Released in three separate volumes, the publication continues the Polish museology series published for several years now and related to the losses incurred as a result of WW II within the borders of today’s Republic of Poland. The Preface to Volume I on the war losses of the Town Hall of the Main City of Gdańsk by the Director of the Museum in Gdańsk Waldemar Ossowski, contains reflections essential for the discussed issue. The three-volume series opens with the War Losses of the Town Hall of the Main City of Gdańsk (Vol. I). Briefly, the most essential facts have been highlighted in the story of its raising, and the functions of the major Town Hall interiors, both sumptuous and serving as offices, have been described: the Grand Hallway, the Grand Room called Red or Summer Room, the Small Room of the Council called Winter Room, the Grand Room of the City Council, the Treasury, and the Deposit Room. In the final months of WW II, Gdańsk lost about 80% of its most precious historic substance within the Main City. As early as in April 1945, the search for and the recovery of the dispersed cultural heritage began. War Losses of the Artus Manor and the Gdańsk Hallway in Gdańsk (Vol. 2) begins with a sepia photograph from 1879. As of October 1943 to January 1945, the following took place: dismantling together with signing and numbering of the objects, packing into wooden chests, and evacuation to several localities outside Gdańsk. It has already been ascertained that as early as in mid-June 1942, some dozen of the most precious historic monuments were evacuated from the Artus Manor, of which several items have not been recovered: late- -mediaeval paintings (Boat of the Church, Siege of Marienburg, Our Lady with Child, and Christ, Salvator Mundi), several elements from the four sets of tournament armours from the section of the Brotherhood of St Reinold, the sculpture Saturn with a Child, the sculpture group Diana’s Bath and Actaeon’s Metamorphosis, as well as some dozen elements of the décor of the Grand Hall. All these historic pieces were transferred to the village of Orle (Germ. Wordel) on the Sobieszewo Island on 16 June 1942. Only fragments of tournament armours have been recovered: they were found at various locations under the circumstances hard to clarify many years later. The most extensive war losses have been presented for the Uphagen House (Vol. 3). The majority of the gathered art works, the interior equipment and usable objects essential in the burgher’s tenement house transformed into a museum in the early 20th century have not been found, thus they have not returned to their original location.

Technocracy and the Tragedy of EU Governance

In a historical perspective, technocracy, emphasising bureaucratic and technical expertise in political, social and economic areas, is a double edge sword: on the one side, it guaranteed the condition for international cooperation post-WW II, providing as an ideologically neutral basis the condition for governance in a politically bitter international climate. On the other hand, it indicates the tragedy of increasing delegitimization of EU governance, causing the alienation of political willing from the peo-ple that is (mis-)used by populists present-day and their slogan ‘back to the people’. Technocracy is theoretically symbolised through the functionalism of EU integration, politically manifest in the re-definition of democracy from “input”- to “output”-orientation by e.g. Fritz Scharpf. The tragedy of EU politics being trapped in technocratic governance as condition of the possibility and calamity of coop-eration at the same time is analytically at the heart to understand contemporary approaches of EU (dis-)integration and identity. However, in both understanding alienation and (populist) opposition to the EU integration processes as systemic phenomena, deeply seeded in the structure of the EU and of EU policy studies themselves, as well as in suggesting a triangular democratic process to rectify the EU’s birth deficit, the paper significantly goes beyond current policy studies (e.g. on EU dis-integration) and their non-normative stance. These studies are still anchored in the epistemological commitments of neo-functionalism that need finally to be overcome as they tend to ignore the human factor and agency in politics.