Swastyka – kilka refleksji na temat symbolu

Author(s): Anna Zasuń / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2011

The swastika is one of the most long-lived and, at the same time, obscure symbols. Its origin, as well as the interpretation of its meaning, interest many theorists, just like the phenomenon of the contemporary reception where the swastika lost the original positive meaning and has become a symbol of perhaps the most tragic period of modern history associated with the existence of Nazism. This article presents two perspectives of interpretation of swastika – firstly, it included universal and widespread throughout the world historical (and evenprehistoric) meaning and attempts to identify its source; secondly, it was presented a modern interpretation of swastika as an emblem of the Nazi ideology, as a symbol which “produces cultural context”, and also as a symbol whose over ten years’ relationship with the Nazis led to a loss in the European mentality of positive reactions associated with the ancient, benevolent motive of the swastika. Attention was also returned to the ambivalent reception of the swastika in the modern world – the history of the Western world dictates the emotional, negative attitude to the swastika symbol, while many eastern cultures (for example, the Middle and Far East) still uses this symbol in its original cultural background for the sense. Completion for this considerations is a reminder of key issues related to the concept of “symbol” and the recall of various terms (for example, gammadion), which are used to describe the swastika, or different symbols (for example, a cross or a spiral), with which the swastika is sometimes combined.

Ungarn 1956 - Stalinplatz, 23. Oktober 1956

Author(s): Istvan Vizinczey / Language(s): German Issue: 26/1986

An interview with the eyewitness and participant István Vizinczey

Marshal Koněv and the Immaculate Virgin: Some Art-Historical Issues in the Czech Politics of Memory

Author(s): Milena Bartlová / Language(s): English Issue: 01/2021

The contribution explores recent conflicts concerning public monuments in the Czech context. It looks in detail at two specific cases, namely the removal of the bronze figure of Soviet Marshal Koněv in Prague Bubeneč and the erection of a copy of the Baroque Marian Column at the Old Town Square in Prague. In both cases, the root context is political: post-Communism and the social memory of the recent past in the case of Marshal Koněv, and post-secular demands from part of the Catholic Church to acquire more political influence in the case of the Marian Column. While art historical judgments have also played a key part in the debates surrounding both cases, these have been used only superficially and instrumentally: there has not been any in-depth critical discussion about these cases within the theoretical framework of art history as an academic discipline.

Politicky rozporný odkaz absolutní oběti

Author(s): Kateřina Sixtová / Language(s): Czech Issue: 1/2023

The German historian Sabine Stach’s monograph "Politika odkazu: Jan Palach a Oskar Brüsewitz jako političtí mučedníci" is a Czech translation of her published PhD thesis "Vermächtnispolitik: Jan Palach und Oskar Brüsewitz als politische Märtyrer" (Göttingen, Wallstein 2016) in which she examines, from the perspective of the culture and politics of memory, two cases of politically motivated suicides in socialist Czechoslovakia and the German Democratic Republic: the self-immolation of the university student Jan Palach (1948–1969) on 16 January 1969 on Wenceslas Square in Prague; and the evangelical pastor Oskar Brüsewitz (1929–1976) on 18 August 1976 in a public market in the Saxon town of Zeitz. While the better-known Palach tried to arouse Czechoslovak society to resist the Soviet occupation and the so-called normalization of conditions, Brüsewitz protested primarily against the socialist and atheist education of East German youth. In her comprehensive work, Stach recalls the political context of both events. Based on a discursive analysis of the recollections, she offers a complex picture of how these personalities who, through their own decision and idealistic motives, sacrificed their lives, have been commemorated in the dissent of their countries, in the East German Protestant Church and in West Germany, and also, after 1990, in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic and the Bundesrepublic. In doing so, Stach points out the difficulties of appropriating the political legacy of such an extreme act and the dilemma between the martyr and hero narratives and their contestation. The reviewer concludes by claiming that Stach meritoriously debunks some of the myths that have survived in connection with Palach and Brüsewitz to the present day.

Cóż będzie dalej? Nieznany list gen. broni Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego z roku 1945 o sytuacji międzynarodowej i perspektywach sprawy polskiej

Author(s): Jerzy Kirszak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2020

After his dismissal from the post of Commander-in-Chief, General Kazimierz Sosnkowski was given a leave of absence and via New York he went to Canada to visit his juvenile sons, who were evacuated there. Unintentionally, Canada became a place of his half-internment. From across the ocean he followed the development of the international situation, the assessment of which he presented, among others, in a letter to a former trusted subordinate, Colonel Franciszek Demel. Sosnkowski aptly predicted a number of events and socio-political processes of the near and far future. For example, he forecast the imminent disbanding of the Polish Armed Forces in the West, the end of Stanisław Mikołajczyk’s activity in Stalin-controlled Poland, or the constant expansion of Russian imperialism. He also showed the backstage and effects of his removal from the post of Commander-in-Chief, which made the process of dismantling the army in exile much quicker, and due to which the opportunities for securing a better existence of soldiers in exile and funds for organized independence activity in the free world were lost. The General’s statement presents a clear-headed assessment of the political activity of the highest Polish state and military authorities in the last months of the World War II, and carefully analyzes the behind-the-scenes personal games which led, for example, to the dismissal of General Władysław Anders from the post of Acting Commander-in-Chief in favor of General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski. This document is an interesting material for researchers of the beginnings of post-war emigration, the process of dismantling the Polish Armed Forces, and finally makes a valuable contribution to the biographers of Kazimierz Sosnkowski.

DOBROTA, PONOS I STRADANJE: BOŠNJACI U PRIPOVIJETKAMA ALIJE NAMETKA

Author(s): Nedim Alić / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 93/2023

This article presents an interpretation of stories written by Alija Nametak, one of the most significant Bosniak authors from the period between the two world wars. It also deals with theoretical backgrounds of cultural recollection, new historicism, and cultural materialism. His narrative illustrates Bosnia and Bosniaks in space and time within different frameworks of varying empyreal and governmental rules during the first half of the 20th century when the country was facing changes induced by the phenomenon of Europeanization, nationalization, agricultural reform, as well as political and national marginalization, prosecution and annihilation. Alija Nametak’s literary work is of great significance for the cultural awareness of Bosniaks, however, the communist government in Yugoslavia imprisoned this author immediately after the Second World War and sentenced him to fifteen years. His works were banished from the literary canon and Bosniaks were condemned to oblivion and extinction.

Aufnahme und Ablehnung: Die Sudetendeutschen in (Nieder-)Österreich 1945/46

Author(s): Niklas Perzi / Language(s): German Issue: 1/2022

The article deals with the process of the reception of the so called “Sudetengermans”, who have been expelled form Czechoslovakia in 1945 and arrived completely without means to (Lower-)Austria. This aggravated the situation in the country occupied by the Allies and scarred by war and Nazi terror, where about 1.6 million so-called "displaced persons" were staying, almost 25% of the whole population However, Austrian policy was also hostile to the persons concerned because they regarded them as "Germans" in the course of now strongly emphasising an independent Austrian identity. The article deals with the actions of politics and authorities as well as the reactions of those affected and the civilian population. Therefore the article used a combination of archival sources as well as narrative interviews with people, who were children or adolescents at the time.

History, Culture and Politics of the Kurds: A Short Overview

Author(s): Michiel Leezenberg / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2023

This article provides a comprehensive overview of the Kurds, the world's largest people without a state of their own, and explores their complex and often tragic history. This brief overview challenges the notion that the Kurds are a people without a history and highlights their active role in shaping their social and political reality. The author discusses the existence of a Kurdish literate civilization with a rich literary tradition going back centuries, debunking the perception of the Kurds as rural, tribal and illiterate. The article also examines the impact of various historical events, such as the collapse of empires, the rise of nationalism and the Cold War, on Kurdish aspirations for self-determination. It examines Kurdish struggles with nationalist states, the influence of the Soviet Union and the United States, and the emergence of Kurdish liberation movements. By shedding light on Kurdish history, culture and political challenges, this survey aims to provide a deeper understanding of this vibrant and resilient people.

ISSUES RELATED TO THE OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS AND REGULATIONS OF THE ROMANIAN MILITARY ATTACHÉS DURING THE PERIOD 1925-1943

Author(s): Iustin-Florin Vancea / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2023

The military issue has always been a concern in the foreign policy of the states, and the continuous progress made in the various military fields, as well as the increasingly significant tendency of military diplomacy to be involved in the maintenance of international peace and security, led to the need to use military experts within diplomatic missions, from specialists in the field to permanent advisers to the heads of permanent or temporary diplomatic missions.The history of military attachés dates to the early 19th century when European countries began sending military observers to foreign capitals to monitor military developments and gather intelligence about the accredited state.Military attachés are members of the army of the accrediting state and head the military offices of the respective diplomatic missions, being, in principle, hierarchically subordinate, regardless of rank, to the head of the diplomatic mission. However, this subordination does not prevent the military from communicating directly with the ministries regarding strict military issues, especially those that refer to military secrets.The period after the First World War, along with the development of Romanian diplomacy, was recorded as the strengthening of the institution of the military attachment, having a special contribution to the implementation of the country's military policy.

POLITIČKA EKSPLOATACIJA SIMBOLA STRADANJA U PROTEKLOM BOSANSKOHERCEGOVAČKOM RATU

Author(s): Stefan Elezović / Language(s): Bosnian Issue: 6/2023

Reminder of the victims, innocent casualties of the past Bosnian-Herzegovinian war, crimes, and atrocities during that period, are a daily occurrence in the media space of post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina. The level of mutual disregard is illustratively evidenced by the ways in which the role of the opposing side in the tragic events is presented, often implying a threat from the other side and ill intentions. In this paper, among other things, the aim is to determine the level and nature of media representation of symbols of suffering in the past war on certain news portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and, indirectly, to indicate the nature of the analyzed content. The content of articles dedicated to this topic attempts to present the character of representing tragic events and answer the assumption that it involves the exploitation of tragic events from the war past to justify ethnonationalistic policies of isolationism, whether justified or unjustified. The escalation of ethnonationalistic hatred, fueled by continuous emphasis on the ethnicity’s vulnerability, spreads and sustains an atmosphere of fear, mistrust, and insecurity in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The thanatopolitics of the post-Dayton ethnonationalistic political corpus largely denies the right of others to be a victim and, in that sense, is identical for all political options that declare, in nominal and functional terms, themselves national. Using inductive and deductive methods, critical methods focused on contextual understanding, qualitative and quantitative content analysis, this study aims to diagnose the way thanatological content is presented and suggest its role in the political system of post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Wsparcie państwa polskiego dla jednostek polonoznawczych – narzędzie dyplomacji publicznej czy polityki polonijnej?

Author(s): Marcin Gońda,Michał Nowosielski,Ignacy Jóźwiak / Language(s): Polish Issue: 2/2023

The paper analyses the Polish government’s actions to support Polish studies units abroad and examines the relationships between these units and institutions in Poland. It aims to understand the forms and scope of support offered to Polish studies units and to explain why public diplomacy actions also target the Polish diaspora. The analysis is based on official documents related to public diplomacy and Polish diaspora policy, as well as the results of an empirical study conducted among representatives of Polish institutions responsible for promoting the Polish image abroad and representatives of Polish studies units. The conclusions indicate the heterogeneity of these units and differences in support for units in the East and the West. In the case of units operating in former Soviet Union countries, Polish diaspora policy dominates, aiming to maintain connections between local Polish communities and Poland. In the West, support for Polish studies units stems from both Polish diaspora policy and public diplomacy.

Trying to Rally Citizens around Authorities: Neotraditionalism and Nation building in Postcolonial Sub Saharan Africa

Author(s): Dmitri M. Bondarenko / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2023

In post colonial states, in particular in sub Saharan Africa, an appeal to the historical past for the construction of national identity acquires great importance. It becomes important especially due to the failed attempts to copy political models based on European theories and experience and therefore turning to “neotraditionalism” as an ideological basis in an attempt to rally citizens around authorities. What makes it possible is the eclecticism of public consciousness and collective picture of the world generated by colonialism and strengthened by the transformations of the postcolonial era. Neotraditional relationships, of course, do not absorb all the diversity of types of relationships in socially and culturally very multi layered postcolonial societies. However, it should be noted that today, they find areas of implementation in public consciousness and practice, and there is even a tendency to expand these areas.

Writing the History of Latvian Literature in the Soviet Period: Problems and Perspective

Author(s): Benedikts Kalnačs,Māra Grudule / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2023

The article focuses on the political and ideological conditions that shaped the dominant trends in writing the history of Latvian literature in the second half of the 20th century. The main focus is on the situation in Soviet Latvia in comparison to that in exile. The limited possibilities that existed in the interpretation of literary history under Soviet rule as well as the researchers’ compromises with the official requirements are considered. The article also scrutinizes the literary research in exile, paying special attention to archival studies in the Western world. Two thematic aspects are discussed here in greater detail. Firstly, we analyze the Soviet-time reception of the novel Mērnieku laiki (The Surveyors’ Times, 1879) by Reinis and Matīss Kaudzīte – its evaluation in official publications on literary history and in an anthology of literary criticism, as well as in studies by literary scholars Ingrīda Kiršentāle, Elza Knope and Oto Čakars. Secondly, we discuss the reception and interpretation of Latvian texts of the early modern period, concentrating on the discoveries of new facts of literary history that have significantly expanded the awareness of the links between Latvian culture and that of other European literatures. In the Soviet context, these discoveries are particularly related to the publications of Aleksejs Apīnis. This article also follows the process whereby the interests of researchers in exile and of those in Soviet Latvia gradually converged, as they reflected on two important sources of Latvian literature – folklore tradition and translation of the Bible – as they shaped both the national and European identity.

The Cold War in the History of Literature

Author(s): Aušra Jurgutienė / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2023

John Neubauer’s suggestion to re-evaluate national histories (which he expresses in History of Literary Cultures of East-Central Europe: Junctures and Disjunctures in the 19th and 20th Centuries (since 2004) and The Exile and Return of Writers from East-Central Europe: A Compendium (2009)) encouraged me to take another look at the new, more-complicated processes of integration and disintegration in histories of national literature during the Cold War (1946–1991). For this reason, the focus of my paper will be dual: on the internal hostility of national literary history and the splitting of national self-images caused by the Cold War, and on the need to preserve national memory and self-awareness. I will discuss the ambivalent identity of the Lithuanian literature: how it was disintegrated during the Cold War with the Bolshevik thesis about the existence of two cultures in each national culture, and how it preserved the basic features of integration. Although my research will be mostly based on examples from the history of Lithuanian literature, I believe it can also be relevant for other cultures that survived the Soviet period and ideological censorship. The goal of this article is to discuss how complicated the processes of “junctures and disjunctures” were in Lithuanian literary history during the Soviet occupation, and how they remain relevant in contemporary historiography.

Meaning Twist: National Images in Lithuanian Poetry of the Late Soviet Period

Author(s): Akvilė Rėklaitytė / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2023

This article analyzes the changes in poetic meanings in the late Soviet period in Lithuania. The author is looking at the homeland (tėvynė) images which were created by poets and which had become a popular content of the so-called “mass culture” (radio and television broadcasts, newspapers, choral music, poetry readings). There is widespread agreement that, although nationalism and Marxism were ideologically incompatible, Soviet ideology used certain aspects of nationalism to assert Soviet era patriotism. This article considers the significance of poetic images in the context of the political and sociocultural changes in the last decades of the Soviet occupation in Lithuania, raising the question of how national poetic images responded to and opposed Soviet ideology. It is argued, through the application of Juri Lotman’s insights on culture, that poetry during the Soviet era was able to simultaneously address two audiences: one corresponding to the Soviet ideology, the other cherishing the memory of independent Lithuania and the hope of freedom.

Censorship in Ballet: the Case Study of The Master and Margarita by Mai Murdmaa in the Estonia Theater Ballet Company

Author(s): Heili Einasto / Language(s): English Issue: 51/2023

In 1985, Mai Murdmaa choreographed a ballet based on Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, set to music by Eduard Lazarev. This ballet offers a good example of late-Soviet-era censorship in ballet, as the Communist Party’s ideological functionaries interfered in the production of this ballet before and after its premiere. Censorship in the Soviet Union is difficult to research because it was a forbidden subject and there are few official references to it – most suggestions were made orally, and thus information about them is largely based on people’s memories. In the case of the ballet The Master and Margarita there are, in addition to oral sources based on memories, also a written record of an eyewitness about of the alterations made in the ballet in its first season of production. This article presents an overview of what happened and when, and analyzes the reasoning behind the changes.

Introduction II: Shifting Literary Culture since Stagnation in the Brezhnev Era: The Baltic Paradigm

Author(s): Eva Eglāja-Kristsone,Jānis Oga / Language(s): English Issue: 52/2023

Latviešu karagūstekņi Zedelgemā: vēsture, atmiņa, konflikts

Author(s): Mārtiņš Kaprāns,Jānis Tomaševskis / Language(s): Latvian Issue: 53/2023

After the World War II, approximately 11,700 Latvians were held in the prisoners-of-war (POW) camp near Zedelgem, Belgium. In 2018, a monument was unveiled in Zedelgem, commemorating both Latvian POWs and freedom in all its manifestations. However, a few years later the monument was caught in a crossfire of conflicting political interests and social memories. This article intends to explain the issues with the Zedelgem camp by looking at the structure and biographical details of the Latvian POWs and exploring how the tension around the Zedelgem monument were created. The composition of the Latvian soldiers imprisoned in the Zedelgem camp suggests that a very small part of these POWs could be associated with German-organized war crimes in Latvia and other territories. The article explains why the advocates of the monument – the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia and local history enthusiasts of Zedelgem – failed to reframe the history of Latvian POWs. In this controversy, the accusing memory activists outnumbered and outperformed the advocates, thus quickly creating an international resonance around the monument. This “memory war”, among other things, sends a clear message to Latvian diplomats that the history of World War II in Europe has not disappeared from international relations.

Reflexia kauzy Hany Ponickej v exilových periodikách

Author(s): Mária Stanková / Language(s): Slovak Issue: 1/2024

This study examines the portrayal of Hana Ponická in 1977 by Czech and Slovak exile periodicals. The objective is to identify the differences in reporting between the official media and the exile media regarding Hana Ponická’s expulsion from the Slovak Writers’ Union and its impact on the cultural life. The present study utilises content analysis and complex semantic-pragmatic interpretation of texts to examine news and journalistic texts from exile periodicals reporting on Hana Ponická between 1977-1979. These texts are then compared with Ladislav Považský’s pamphlet published in Pravda.

Proti Židům pravdou a činy! Příběh antisemitského týdeníku Arijský boj

Author(s): Tadeáš Hlavinka / Language(s): Czech Issue: 01/2024

The article discusses the history and impact of the antisemitic weekly magazine Arijský boj during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Launched in May 1940 by Jan Vladimír Břetenář, the magazine was filled with aggressive antisemitic articles and caricatures, promoting Nazi racial policies. It targeted Jews and their supposed allies, calling for their exclusion from public life. The magazine also attacked "white Jews," non-Jews who opposed antisemitism or were indifferent to Nazi ideology. Contributors included notable figures like Bohumír Lain and the Innemann couple, who wrote antisemitic articles and serialized novels. The magazine's content was monitored by the Gestapo and influenced the lives of many individuals. Despite its limited circulation, Arijský boj played a significant role in spreading Nazi propaganda in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.