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The purpose of this article is to analyze how Stanisław Sojczyński “Warszyc”, one of the leaders of the anticommunist underground movement in postwar Poland who was captured and then killed, was portrayed within the official politics of memory by the People’s Republic of Poland. The author is mostly interested in the slow evolution of Sojczyński’s image from nothing more than a common “bandit” in the mid 40’s, to a partially acknowledged “patriot” twenty years later. The study shows that even though Sojczyński was consistently described as a major enemy of the communist state, some significant changes developed over time in the way that he was portrayed. This case study is based on detailed examination of materials such as press articles, novels and even a film, which all dealt with the story of Sojczyński and his troops. Aleida Assmann’s distinction between communicative and collective memory is employed as a main theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The armed resistance movement which emerged in Poland during the Second World War is usually portrayed as united and representing all sections of society. In reality, this was very far from the case and the underground resistance was divided on several lines, of which that separating the Home Army (AK) from the peasant armed units was most pronounced. Conflicts between the two related to the army’s role in the destruction of democracy before the war. As the end of the war appeared in sight, so these divisions multiplied as the peasant movement became anxious about the AK reconstructing the pre-war state of affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article discusses a study of the present vicissitudes of men and women who were active in the underground publishing movement in the nineteen-eighties. One of the elements of the underground "Solidarity" ideology was civic responsibility and social activity. The author wanted to know whether the one-time conspirators have carried these ideas into free Poland. He found that very few former underground activists now work in public institutions. They are disappointed with the outcomes of the transformation which, rather than giving them a sense of agency, are convincing them that former members of the democratic opposition have not been instrumental to the successful development of a new, democratic state. The one-time activists are also finding it difficult to come to terms with the social costs of the reforms which they feel they co-authored. Most of them have not ceased to be socially active, however, although they no longer speak the language of civic involvement. They feel that the values they lived by in the years of struggle with the communist regime cannot be applied in any way to the political reality of a free country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland in September 1939, a network of Jewish underground organizations and active conspiratorial groups was established. Its objective was to resist the violent imposition of the Soviet system, to preserve Jewish culture and religion and, for those with a Zionist orientation, to work for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. The Zionist parties and organizations among them were particularly active, especially the youth groups. The fate of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe under the Soviet occupation of 1939-41 remains understandingly overshadowed by the tragic events of the Holocaust. As a result, the activities of this Jewish underground are not widely known and have received little attention from scholars. Only in recent years have historians researching the history of Jews in eastern Poland begun to look more closely at Jewish resistance and especially at Zionist activity under Soviet occupation. These scholars have, however, relied exclusively on the eyewitness accounts of the few survivors. At the same time, Polish and Russian historians conducting intensive research on the war-time Soviet occupation of eastern Poland have published contemporary Soviet documents that confirm the existence of this Jewish underground. The material currently available shows that the Jewish underground was more widespread than previously thought, and that the Soviet authorities viewed Jewish resistance groups, and indeed any clandestine activity, as a serious threat to their rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]