O potrzebie badań lokalnych pogranicza na przykładzie Babimojszczyzny w XX wieku

The aim of the study is an attempt to refer to the historiography of a small microregion at the border of today's provinces: Lubuskie and Wielkopolskie, called "Babimojszczyzna". The time perspective relating to the events of World War I, Polish-German disputes, as well as the transformations in Poland and Germany after 1989 requires a new approach to historical narratives. The thesis of the article is the assumption that the hitherto historiography of this complex microregion in Polish-German relations in the first half of the 20th century did not develop new approaches. Another problem is the lack of real effects under the research models on the Polish and German narratives of the last thirty years. Their lack is particularly noticed in the context of the condition of social memory in the vicinity of Babimost, where only the tradition of the Polish Uprising 1918-1919 and the struggle for Polishness is cultivated, without a broader context. The discussed region can also be an interesting example for other similar historical areas, which, like all borderlands, were the subject of natural osmosis rather than their contact.

Tourism. Retrotopian Time-Travel (part two)

The study historicizes the phenomenon of tourism as a purely modern variety of the mobility of which inner morphology began taking form at the turn of the 19th centuries. First, the study draws on the innovative approach of Hasso Spode, historian of mentality, who has a profound influence over contemporary research of the history of tourism in German historiography. Using his theoretical framing, the study discloses how travel that, from the late 18th century, had been a diverse set of motives, experiences, ideas and practices, started to be cemented by a psychomental foundation: the tourist gaze. Then, the study interprets tourism as the product of spatialization of time and temporalization of space. Finally, the article, using Zygmunt Bauman´s theoretical conception of “retrotopia”, clips today's form of tourism together with its primordial form and leads to a conclusion that the tourism as a controversial phenomenon of modern times is endowed with human nostalgia, romance, a never-ending desire for authenticity as well as an eternal obsession with the idea of “progress” encompassing also utopian notions.

Re-education as Ethnocide. Beyond the Nazi Concept of “Umvolkung”

The paper deals with re-education as one of the hidden symbols of modernity using the example of National Socialist nationality politics. It analyses a theoretical concept behind the National Socialist ethnic and racial policy in East Central Europe, especially in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. It presents the concept of Umvolkung as a theoretical basis on which it was possible to think of a significant part of the Czech population that met the racist criteria of the National Socialists, that it was originally the German population who lost its national identity during the centuries. The concept should also help to develop a strategy to re-educate the people of the Protectorate, and in the long run it should eventually lead to ethnocide, i. e. to disintegrate or directly destroy the Czech collective national identity. One of the key figures in shaping the concept was the young Nazi scholar Hans Joachim Beyer (1908–1971), who came to the Protectorate on the advice of the Deputy Reich Protector Reinhard Heydrich and headed the most politically influenced Science Foundation in Czech Lands (Reinhard Heydrich Foundation for Scientific Research in Prague). In order to justify the future National Socialist Germanization policy, Beyer developed a new theory of the origins of the Czech people in collaboration with the anthropologist K. V. Müller.

Pomiędzy miłością agapiczną a erozyczną. Praktyki miłości i związków intymnych wśród indyjskiej miejskiej klasy średniej

Arranged marriages are the most common (and perceived as traditional) form of formalized heterosexual relationships in India. However, interest in relationships based on romantic love – especially among urban middle class –is increasing. The goal of the article is to present various practices related to romantic love, which cannot be inscribed in a rigid division for arranged and love marriages; to present everyday strategies and tactics, as they are being practiced by my research participants in context of sociocultural changes. The article is based on information gathered in ethnographic fieldwork (with a technique of participant observation) in Delhi.

Wpływ Euromajdanu i Rewolucji Godności na tworzenie nowych mediów na Ukrainie

The process of changing the media landscape in Ukraine cannot be called simple. At the same time, these changes are very large and irreversible - as well as changes in Ukrainian society. This paper deals with the issues related to the present media landscape of Ukraine and the factors that influence it. The work describes the relationship between the media and the events of Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, as well as the identity crisis that led to the events of 2013–2014 in Ukraine. The role of the mass media in the democratic revolutions in Ukraine is very important. The changing position of the media, the influence of the oligarchs, and the resistance of media workers - all of this was a part of the revolution that changed not only Ukrainian society but also the mass media for the better. Journalists, being public figures, were active participants in the revolution and stood close to its roots. Admittedly, this had an impact on the specifics of the work of journalists who had to operate in extreme conditions, first during the Revolution of Dignity, and later broadcasting events in Crimea and eastern Ukraine. The events of the Euromaidan completely changed the situation, putting an end to the crisis of national self-identification. The media not only reflected on but also created these changes while experiencing restructuration. A new type of media has emerged – are ordinary people who, using their profiles in social networks, acted to spread the information about events, commented on them, and shared their reflections.

Kryzys konstytucyjny w Estonii w 2016 r.

By law, the president of modern Estonia is elected indirectly by parliament or, in the absence of a decision in three consecutive votes, by a specially appointed electoral college. In 2016, Estonia experienced an unprecedented political crisis resulting from the impossibility of appointing the head of state according to the procedure specified in the constitution. It was determined both by more general factors related to the electoral system itself, as well as the specificity of Estonia's political life in the second decade of the 21st century. The 2016 presidential election proved to be a complicated game involving major political parties, going well beyond simply appointing a new head of state. The purpose of this article is to discuss the origins, course and immediate effects of these events, culminating in the unexpected election of Kersti Kaljulaid to the office of President of the Republic.

Bohemian rulers of the Luxembourg dynasty and the Poděbrady family in the medieval Silesian and Kłodzko chronicles of canons regulars in Kłodzko, Wrocław and Żagań

The author based on three monastery chronicles of the Late Middle Ages analyses the method of portraying the Bohemian kings from the Luxembourg and Poděbrady families and tries to point out factors which influenced this method of chronicle narration. The sources for this article are canons’ regulars chronicles in Żagań, Wrocław and Kłodzko: Catalogus abbatum Saganensium, Chronica abbatum Beatae Mariae Virginis in Arena i Cronica Monasterii Canonicorum Regularium in Glacz. The figures of rulers appear in the chronicles mainly in the context of their relationships with the particular monastery, especially when it comes to property matters: granting, rights and taxes. The other aspect in which the rulers are mentioned in the chronicles are the conflicts between secular and Church power. From the analysis of the texts a conclusion can be drawn that the picture of the rulers is diverse in different places where the chronicles were written and the attitude of the local society towards the particular ruler. It is best seen on the example of George of Poděbrady, a Hussite on the Bohemian throne. The chronicle of Żagań has a separate position – apart from the local issues, it presents the general information, unrelated to Church, including the ruling persons.

„120 kilometrów samotności”. Główny Szlak Karpacki im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego na terenie Bieszczadów Zachodnich

In the Interwar Period, the Western Bieszczady Mountains were not commonly viewed as attractive in terms of tourism. It was not until the 1930s that more attention was paid to this fragment of Western Carpathians. The change was materialized by the emergence of the Main Carpathian Trail, the last part of which was created in the above described region. The fragment of the red trail existed for only four years, which was time enough to arouse the interest of Polish mountain tourists in the area between Łupków Pass and Użok Pass. Since 1936, the coverage of the red trail in the Bieszczady Mountains was one of the requirements to obtain the Mountain Badge popularized by the Polish Tatra Society. Thanks to this organisation, new investments were made to facilitate touristic exploration of the terrain. However, till the very end of its existence, the fragment of the trail located in the Western Bieszczady Mountains was quite demanding for tourists since they had to cover the mountainous terrain which generally lacked adequate tourist facilities, especially proper accommodation. Tourists wishing to walk the trail needed to be well-equipped, skilled in the use of maps and able to plan their journey through 120 kilometres of wilderness. The lack of a good and widely available mountain guidebook largely hindered tourists’ plans. Therefore, a tourist hiking along the trail between 1935–1939 was largely dependent on few mountain hostels, shelters and even shepherd’s huts.

Zapomniany kurier do Delegatury Rządu. Ppor. Napoleon Segieda „Wera” (1908–1991)

The article presents Second Lieutenant Napoleon Segieda, alias Gustav Molin “Wera” or Jerzy Salski (after the war), born in the Zamość region, a resident of Pomerania, and a political courier to the government of the Polish Underground State (during the war), parachuted to the country on the night of 7th November 1941. The paper is the first attempt to show his biography and military achievements. He was a participant in the war of 1939 (the defense of Warsaw), and then, a prisoner of war in the German camps, whence, after many trials and tribulations, he arrived at the Polish Forces base in Great Britain. On completing his mission in the country (summer 1942), Segieda set off to London again with the first comprehensive report of the Polish Underground State to the Polish government-in-exile, London. As early as in 1942, being a witness to the extermination, he alerted the world to the Holocaust, to practically no effect, since the West was not particularly interested in the problem. From spring to summer 1942, Napoleon Segieda stayed in the city of Oświęcim where he collected information about the Concentration Camp Auschwitz. On 8th August 1942, he left Warsaw and, via Cracow and Vienna, reached Switzerland where, for unknown reasons, he got stuck on the way to London for a few months. His report was later distributed among many important and influential politicians of the allied community in Great Britain and the USA. It is worth mentioning that the messages on the Holocaust by Stefan Karboński (the head of the leadership of civil combat) also arrived in London during the summer 1942. After the war, Napoleon Segieda settled down in London, under the surname of Jerzy Salski, where he died completely forgotten.

Nationalisation and Reprivatisation of Forests in Poland after World War II

The article concerns the transfer of ownership of forest property, nationalized after World War II. It covers the process of property acquisition by way of nationalization decrees and dilemmas related to the issue of reprivatisation. Nationalization of forests throughout the country was mainly based on the Decree of the PKWN of December 12, 1944. on the takeover of some forests under the ownership of the Treasury. This decree was a supplement to the decree on agricultural reform, which initiated changes in the system and ownership after the Second World War. In a sense, it crowned the ‘task’ of nationalization, covering forests with a smaller area, not subject to the takeover under the agricultural reform decree. Different legal grounds for the nationalization of forests determined different re-privatization procedures initiated after 1989. The work includes issues proposed over the years and existing statutory solutions, as well as case law affecting the interpretation of legal norms.