Led by: Dr. Jacek Stawiski

We would like to invite you to a discussion from the series “New Perspectives: A Contemporary Reading of History”. The guests of the first debate of the series will be Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska and Prof. Marcin Zaremba.

“Entangled in Fear: Everyday Terror in Poland, 1944-1947” (English publication: Indiana University Press, 2022) by Prof. Marcin Zaremba is the first such insightful and comprehensive monograph describing the end of the Second World War and the early post-war period. It paints a picture of national hysteria that led to shocking crimes, as well as a panorama depicting a demoralized society of ordinary violence in which rape, looting, and lynching were everyday experiences for millions of Poles.

“Czystka” (“The Purge”) by Katarzyna Surmiak-Domańska is a story of an individual, written from the perspective of a life of the author’s grandmother which is intertwined with most important historic events of the end of the Second World War: the massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, the forced displacement, and the taking over of houses from the Germans in the so-called Recovered Territories. It is a personal attempt to recover the past.

These two perspectives will be the starting point for our discussion, in which we will try to look at the history of Poland stripped of myths and distortions.

The project “New Perspectives. A Contemporary Reading of History” is a series of discussions on the most important research and publications, which, during the last 20 years, changed our views on Polish history and society by reorganizing the directions of scientific research and significantly contributing to the development of a specific group of publications. Open, admission-free panel discussions will be participated in by scientists, historians, non-fiction writers, and journalists.

The project was financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland from the Fund for Promoting Culture.