http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12815 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 04:17:11 GMT 2026-04-09T04:17:11Z http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12827 Film Krzyżacy Aleksandra Forda. W uścisku rozmaitych ideologii Skowronek, Bogusław The article discusses various ideological conditionings in whose clutch Ford’s film “Knights of the Teutonic Order” is located. They cause that it is impossible to perceive the film onesidedly. “Ideological conditionings,” close to the notion of “discourse,” are defined in this article in accordance with the research in cultural studies as all social sets of convictions and imaginations of reality which create a socially defined identity, determine the way of conceptualization of the surrounding world – also the forms of the cinematic expression of this world. Ideological discourses which determined the artistic, formal and philosophical shape of “Knights of the Teutonic Order” were mainly: the original text of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel, his model of literature and the model of a specific philosophy of history that results from it; recipients’ expectations characteristic for common rationality with their typical reception models, the accepted understanding of the film adaptation of literature, the acknowledged model of intersemiotic translation, genre features of a historical film and the set of formal ways of film expression used, current policy of the Communist government in 1960 and the original strategy of Alexander Ford, the film director. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12827 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12826 Tradycja grunwaldzka w Polsce po 1918 roku. Między polityczną koniecznością a społecznym oczekiwaniem Gorycki, Leszek Among the numerous problems that arose along with the regaining of independence, the question of Poles’ national identity played an important role. Naturally, the Polish victory in the battle of Grunwald in 1410 appeared to be an almost perfect binder for the citizens of independent Poland. “Nationalists,” for whom the German threat was the major concern, were basing their ideology on building the national identity around that event. The official governmental factors, however, saw the main enemy of the new Polish nationality in the East, in the Soviet Russia. The lack of official support caused that the Grunwald tradition did not become the leading idea of the national reunion during the interwar period. The memory of “the glory of the Grunwald battlefield” was incorporated into the official government propaganda during the months preceding the German assault on Poland in 1939. Only then it turned out how deeply this tradition is entrenched in the awareness of the Polish society. The September defeat caused that “the second Grunwald” became a slogan of all political powers in occupied Poland and on emigration. The thought of making amends for the cruelties of the German occupation in the form of “the second Grunwald” was also popular in wide circles of the Polish society. That is why both the powers politically representing pre-war Poland and the new player on the political stage – the Communists supported by the Soviet Union – tried to make use of this idea. The post-war distribution of power in Europe and in the world caused that Poland got into the Soviet zone of influence. The idea of Grunwald constituted a perfect element of the Communists’ ideology of “the Slavic unity in the fight with the German imperialism.” It led to the renaissance of the Grunwald tradition. Simultaneously, the Grunwald victory became a subject of numerous abuses of the official propaganda. It resulted in the strengthening of the falsified image of the battle and its significance. After the fall of Communism, the Grunwald tradition which used to be extremely popular among Poles, yielded to commercialisation deepening the plastic, almost “fabulous” image of the battle which was getting further and further from the historical truth. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12826 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12825 Bitwa pod Grunwaldem w polskich podręcznikach do historii Chłosta-Sikorska, Agnieszka The picture of the battle of Grunwald presented in the Polish history textbooks, from those published during the partitions through the interwar textbooks to the post-war ones and those used after the educational reform in 1999 was changing. Each of those periods was characterised by a particular approach to the battle as it was attempted to make use of the history for the needs of the current politics. That is why the events of 1409–1411, although unambiguously interpreted as a great victory, had an undercurrent depending on the planned and expected effects of the message. Teaching as well as learning is based mainly on words, that is why textbooks play such an important role in those processes. Textbooks as information carriers reaching wide audiences are perfectly suitable for the purpose of creating the past according to the needs of the current political situation. Textbooks published during the partitions focused mainly on the victories of the Polish army and on those decisions of the Polish rulers and commanders which contributed to the increase of the country’s power. The Teutonic Order was identified with Prussia – one of the powers involved in the partitions. The germanisation period contributed to associating it with the Third Reich. That is why Poles willingly cast their minds back to the glorious pictures of the past victories over the contemporary oppressor. When the longed-for freedom came the history textbooks were not altered in any major way. The positive moments in the history of our country were emphasised, this time in order to remind those who were born under the foreign ruling that they should double they effort to unite the brutally torn country. This idea was interrupted by the outburst of another world conflict. Its aftermath, namely the annexation of Poland into the Eastern Bloc, had long-lasting consequences. The authority imposed by the Soviet Union attempted to create an anti-western and anti-imperial myth of Grunwald. The battle was depicted as an example of a Slavic brotherhood of blood and the victory of the nations of the Soviet Union over Germany – an enemy of time immemorial identified with the Teutonic Order. In the textbooks published after 1989 we will not find the identification of the Teutonic Order with Germany. The authors usually show the holistic European background of the battle of Grunwald pointing out that the victory had wide repercussions on the international arena and its consequences had an immense influence on the 14th-century Europe. The power of the Jagiellonian country increased as it took the helm of the old continent’s politics for a long time while the influence of the Teutonic Order decreased. The analysis of the Polish history textbooks suggests that the battle of Grunwald was, and still is, an event of which Poles are proud and as such occupies special space on the textbooks’ pages. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12825 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12824 Wizerunek bitwy pod Grunwaldem w podręcznikach szkolnych Litwy z lat 1906–2010 Karvelis, Deimantas Grunwald has occupied an important place in every Lithuanian history textbook, in most of them the event is devoted a separate chapter. The author of the article states that the older textbooks provided no information on the significance of the battle of Grunwald for Poland. In the interwar period the battle was only a component of Vytautas’ portrayal, a symbol of the ruler’s military victories. Grunwald was also used to show historic differences between Poland and Lithuania. We do not come across an interpretation where the Grunwald victory would not be considered the greatest triumph of the Lithuanian army achieved by the Prince of Lithuania Vytautas the Great – a military genius. In the Soviet period, attempts were made to use the Grunwald victory in politics, as an instrument for the creation of an everlasting friendship between Lithuania and Russia as well as for strengthening the enmity towards the Western countries, especially West Germany. Contemporary textbooks show some remains of the former stereotypes concerning the behaviour of the Polish chivalry on the battlefield. The author looks for the reason for such a state of affairs in inadequate competence of the authors, lack of critical attitude towards the material presented in the former textbooks and their negligent revision. He also shows that the advantage of the contemporary textbooks is that they are based on systematized achievements of historiography. On the cusp of the 20th and 21st centuries, the textbooks started to display the features of the scientific objectivism. Thanks to that, the students can fully realize how meaningful the battle of Grunwald was for Lithuania. The importance consisted in the increase of the authority of Vytautas the Great, reclaiming Samogitia and undermining the military power of the Teutonic Order. As a permanent aftermath of the battle the author also mentions the prevention of a perennial union of the Prussian and Livonian branches of the Teutonic Order and the creation of firm premises for an immediate baptism of Samogitia. The students also find out that the battle of Grunwald became an effective prevention of the Teutonic Order’s further conquest of Lithuania, destruction of the Lithuanian nation, ruining its culture and wealth. It is also emphasized that Lithuania and Poland became the greatest political power in Eastern Europe. A predominant problem connected with the battle of Grunwald appearing in the textbooks is the person of the Prince Vytautas the Great. The question of the diversionary flight manoeuvre became an undisputable didactic truth. The problem arousing the greatest controversy is the role of King Wladyslaw Jagiello and the Polish army. The author of the article also explores the issue of how the Lithuanian textbooks serve the development of the discourse about the historical memory. Sat, 01 Jan 2011 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11716/12824 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z