Object structure
Title:

Fatalism and Choice: The Moral Component in the Narratives of Polish Dissident Historians in the 1980s. : the Cases of Krystyna Kersten and Jerzy Holzer

Subtitle:

Acta Poloniae Historica T. 116 (2017), Studies

Creator:

González Álvarez, Cristina

Contributor:

Hartzell, James : Ed. ; Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences ; Polish National Historical Committee

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2017

Description:

p. 301-331 ; 23 cm

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

Poland - history - periodicals

Abstract:

This article discusses the moral dimension of history writing in the opposition milieus during the last decade of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). It focuses on the works of two dissident historians who dealt with untold or contested aspects of Polish contemporary history: Krystyna Kersten and Jerzy Holzer. First, the essay describes the narratives about the values and experiences shared in the PRL context by people belonging simultaneously to the intelligentsia, opposition dissidence, and academia (professional historians), with a special emphasis on the discovery and search for the truth under positivistic premises. Secondly, it analyses the counterfactual questions posed by Kersten and Holzer in their bestseller underground books about post-war politics and the trade union Solidarity’s legal period, respectively. The reflections that these two scholars developed about pasts-that-didn’t-take-place provided a complementary ethical component to their discourses concerning decision-making processes and Polish society’s political agency. The idea of losing, the ultimate inevitability of defeat, and the way that defeat was faced in two different moments of Poland’s recent history are tackled by Kersten and Holzer with an educational goal: to explain to readers that, however minute the range of choice is, ethics, together with remembrance, plays an important role in social consciousness and empowerment, and hence can make a crucial difference in the long run.

References:

Babiuch-Luxmoore Jolanta, Portrety i autoportrety inteligencji polskiej (Warszawa, 1989).
Bajer Magdalena, Blizny po ukąszeniu (Warszawa, 2005).
Falk Barbara, The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe. Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher Kings (Budapest and New York, 2003).
Friszke Andrzej, Opozycja polityczna w PRL 1945–1980 (London, 1994).
Holzer Jerzy, Solidarność 1980–1981. Geneza i historia (Warszawa, 1990 [1984]).
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Kersten Krystyna, Narodziny systemu władzy. Polska 1943–1948 (Warszawa, 1987).
Mate Reyes, Medianoche en la historia. Comentarios a las tesis de Walter Benjamin ‘Sobre el concepto de historia’ (Madrid, 2006).
Meller Marcin, ‘Rola myślenia o historii w ruchu Solidarność w latach 1980–1981’, in Marcin Kula (ed.), Solidarność w ruchu 1980–1981 (Warszawa, 2000), 219–66.
Mikołajczyk Magdalena, Jak się pisało o historii…: problemy polityczne powojennej Polski w publikacjach drugiego obiegu lat siedemdziesiątych i osiemdziesiątych (Kraków, 1998).
Romek Zbigniew, Cenzura a nauka historyczna w Polsce 194–1970 (Warszawa, 2010).
Stobiecki Rafał, Historiografia PRL. Ani dobra, ani mądra, ani piękna… ale skomplikowana. Studia i szkice (Warszawa, 2007).
Stråth Bo (ed.), Myth and Memory in the Construction of Community. Historical Patterns in Europe and Beyond (Brussels, 2000).
Törnquist-Plewa Barbara, The Wheel of Polish Fortune. Myths in Polish Collective Consciousness during the First Years of Solidarity (Lund, 1992).
Wawrzyniak Joanna, ‘History and Memory: The Social Frames of Contemporary Polish Historiography’, Acta Poloniae Historica, 103 (2011), 127–46.

Relation:

Acta Poloniae Historica

Volume:

116

Start page:

301

End page:

331

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

application/pdf

Resource Identifier:

0001-6829 ; 10.12775/APH.2017.116.11

Source:

IH PAN, sygn. A.295/116 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/116 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Projects co-financed by:

-

Access:

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