The History Of Poland Through Literature
Polish literature has been the catalyst in the growth and history of Poland. At the end of the 18th century, Poland has been nothing but a territory of supreme powers of Europe. When the Romantic Period grew into popularity, Poland also saw the birth of a nation and the nationalist fire that would still burn even in the 21st century. This fire has been lit and destroyed time and time again, but literature has been the source of flame. The Polish literature gave Poland its identity and its power to rise through the adversity of war, oppression, and inhumanity. This paper will highlight the growth of Polish Literature and the movements that set the motion. This paper will show that Poland could rise against the odds, and the only weapon is arts and letters.
Most of the literature of Poland was written in Polish, and it took great efforts to translate those words and communicate the message. Polish literature focused on creative self-expression through poetry and drama. These forms of writing were the most dominant form of literary expression during that time, and Polish artists dwelt so much on creating these kinds of art pieces.
This paper will discuss three of the most important literary movements in Poland, and that includes the Romantic Era, the Positivist Era, and World War II and Holocaust Era. The genesis of the Romantic era happened almost at the same time with Poland's loss of independence almost at the end of the 18th century. However, the Romantic Era happened during the first half of the 19th century. This was the time when the Polish land was separated by three empires ruling the rest of Europe. During this era, Romantics created a wave of literary art forms depicting the suffering of humans in the hands of these empires. The Romantics also depicted the idea that Poland has a mission to liberate its people against the grasp of the imperialists ruling at that time.
The Romantic Era began in 1830 and ended in 1863. It was formed out of the partitions made by the ruling empires, and this movement is characterized by its call for liberation and mitigation of oppression. The Romantic period is divided into two periods, one which began in 1820 to 1830, and the second one from 1830 to 1864. The latter half of the Romantic Period gave birth to Polish Positivism, which contradicts what the Romantics established.
During the first period of the Romantic era, the literature is heavily influenced by the European Romantics, which features both imagination and romance towards nature and people. The prevalent art form during the Romantic Period involves folklore, exploration of the normal life of people, stories about witches and dragons, heroic acts, as well as spreading the ideas of independence. Some of the most famous writers of the Romantic Era are Adam Mickiewicz, Aleksander Fredro, Zygmunt Krasinski, and Jadwiga Luszczewska.
While writing in exile, Adam Mickiewicz known for his writing of Zevilla, kept the hope of Independence in Poland growing. In his writings, he combined folktales, imaginary feelings, and heroic acts which led to the creation of romanticism. In Zevilla, Mickiewicz tells the story and heroic act of the knight Poray who was able to defeat the Russians(Ivan’s men) twice and was prince Koryat’s right hand man when it came to defeating his enemies but in the end he is killed by Zevilla for betraying his own country. Zevilla was not happy about Poray coming to save her from the dungeon by teaming up with her father’s enemy. She states “is your homeland such a mean thing in your heart that you would sell it for the smoothness of a woman’s flesh?” (Mickiewicz 492). “While in Rome in 1948, Mickiewisz created the Legion Polski (Polish Legion), which served the province of Lombardy in it liberation struggle'. Literary output left behind by Mackiewisz assisted in formulating programs that made the citizens start imagining the world of freedom. In 1836, in Rome, Adam made friendship with Zygmunt Krasinski, who was known for his writing of 'Cholera.' Cholera also embodies romanticism and talks about how Vienna which is seen as the center of European civilization is being punished for its role in the partitioning of Poland. Krasinski uses symbolism to depict Vienna as the bad guy because they were responsible for the death of Poland. Poles saw Vienna as the enemy and Vienna is put on trial for their terrible deed of breaking up Poland. Zygmunt had a firm stand with respect to revolutionary. This stand brought up a lot of Slowacki’s protest. But being a writer, he championed the significant role in the intellect of Polish nationals, which could play a big role in maintaining Polish culture and history.
On the other hand, when the Romantic period declined, a new era arose, and that is the Positivist era, which started from the uprising that happened in 1863 and ended in the 1900. This uprising happened when the Polish people revolted and aimed to restore the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which would improve the lives of both Polish and Lithuanian people. However, the uprising proved to be a failure, and the Polish people suffered from great outrage. Thus, they established the Polish Positivist Era, the name of which was derived from the philosophy of Auguste Comte. Positivism was concerned with a practical approach to the current political situations which resulted against Romantism. During this era, the Polish people left romanticism behind and aimed to establish the role of reason and skepticism in order to break the chains that were holding them. This contradicted the ideals set by the Romantics, which valued romance and emotions. The Positivists aimed to advance the rights of every people, from the Jewish minority to feminine rights. During this period, there was a rapid rise of the urban middle group, and intellectuals later came up from this group advocating for new ideas. The story of the waistcoat and lighthouse keeper written by Boleslaw Prus and Henryk Sienkiewicz fits into the positivist tradition. The waistcoat depicts positivism by talking about the story of a couple who tries to make ends meet which portrays the everyday life of a particular social class. The author uses realism in his writing and the plots, settings and characters are modern, realistic and relatable. Unlike the Romanticism era, positivism attempts to teach us lessons without using extreme fairytale and folklore which makes the audience relate to the story. The lighthouse keeper also has a positivist plot with a character who is fighting for liberty and has no true home because his native home of Poland has been destroyed and partitioned. Towards the end of the story the emotions and happy ending the old man felt was described as magical. The old man saw it almost as an act of God because the words used to describe his feelings are heavenly and spiritual which are not true to the positivist theme and more closely resembles the romantic theme but overall the message conveyed to the audience is more positivist in nature.
Journals were very important in circulating new ideas, mainly Tygodnik llustrowany. The natural repercussion of a positivist point of view was the prevalence of prose. Together with other writers, Aleksander Świętochowski expressed antiaristocratic and anticlerical opinions on his weekly review (Przeglad tygodniowy) and Truth (Prawda). One of the leading Polish Philosophers of Positivism know as Boleslaw Prus (The Outpost, The Doll, The New Woman) gave advice to his fellow citizens that “Poland’s place in the world would be determined by the sum of her contribution made to the world scientific, technological, economic and cultural progress”.
Of the societal concerns addressed by the Polish Positivists were the inception of membership equality in the society of which included countrymen and women: Immersion of Poland Jewish minority: consideration about the illiteracy resulting from the closure of Polish school by the ruling powers and security of Polish in the areas ruled by Germans and assurance against displacement by the German government. The positivists also advocated for hard work amongst the Polish population as a way of maintaining Polish national recognition and portray and positive patriotic. Aleksander Świętochowski advocated for free and compulsory education as he believed that education carries the solution to all humankind's problems. He believed this was necessary because the acquisition of modern and rational knowledge was necessary for the transformation of the nation.
Prus once wrote, 'Not only are we a backward and poor society. We have, what’s even worse, an illness of the soul. Our old programs are obsolete, and in the present day, they have no value whatsoever. We resemble a disorganized crowd of people who have lost their way in a forest in the middle of the night and don't know where and which way they're going'. On reading the European philosophers and sociologists work, Polish positivists embraced the component of evolutionism, efficiency, rationalism, and experientialism intending to use them in the building of the social program. They aimed at eliminating backwardness and economic stabilization. However, they didn't forget about independence but had in mind that after conquering, they will accomplish them by all legal means possible. Pru’s writings became very inspirational for the whole nation, and it almost acted as the turning point for the Polish.
The positivist believed that the nation was very similar to an organism, and just like any other organism, it will be subjected to evolution. They believed such an institution would only develop properly if all its elements, which include social classes, political factions, and individuals operate uniformly and targeting the same goal.
When German and the Soviet were occupying Poland, artist livelihoods were greatly affected. Culture was lost, and the surroundings were chaotic. 'The writers were scattered; some found themselves in labor camps (or Nazi-era ghettos)’ others were deported out of the country’ some emigrated (Tuwim, Wierzynski) many more joined the ranks of Polish underground resistance movement (Baczynski, Borowski, Gajcy)”. This move made all literary channels to halt operation. Many writers joined and fought in the Polish army or opposed the holocausts civilian. During these activities, a Polish writer Tadeusz Borowski got imprisoned at Auschwitz camp for a period of two years from 1944 to 1945. The Soviet Army was still advancing, and as a result, most prisoners were being transferred to various concentration camps with the aim of destroying evidence regarding the mass killings which took place at Auschwitsz. Borowski, who was initially to be sent to death, was later rescued by the Americans.
In prison, the prisoners used to walk naked on the scorching heat, as narrated by the first narrator. After the men completed eating their snacks, a messenger storms into the Elder's Block and announces that the transportation train has arrived, and they can accompany the Canadians. On arrival, on being offloaded from the train, the prisoners call for water and air. However, in the process of alighting from the train, the Canadian in charge orders that the train is cleaned. The infants who were left there are given to the women. However, there were some women who did not want to take the children. 'Take them, for God's sake!, I explode as women run from me in horror, covering their eyes'. However, the women take the children at gunpoint.
“A Day at Harmenz' is subdivided into seven sections that show a workday at Harmenz, which was a subcamp of Auschwitsz. At first, Tadek (the first narrator) is offered food but refuses. A Jewish prisoner, known as Becker, advises Tadek against refusing to take the food but would rather request for more. However, Tadek twists the story and suggest that he would appreciate if Becker would be taken to the gas chamber since he killed his own people he served as camp senior. Later in the day, the prisoners have their dinner mostly in silence. Tadek gives Becker his bowl of which doesn’t go well with the Kapo as he requires to know why he didn't consume his portion, and as a result, he promises Tadek no soup the following day as a punishment. Borowski in This Way For The Gas, Ladies, and Gentlemen writes that despite the fact that the prisoners were living in hard times, they craved for better living and that they should hang on to that belief. He hoped that many prisoners would keep on believing there is life after prison and that they should not quit no matter what came their way.
Prisoners never gave up despite the rumors that the majority of the prisoners end up in the gas chambers, they had a belief that they are ending to a better place than the gas chambers, but this was not the case. Thousands of prisoners were killed in the gas chamber every hour. ‘It is camp law; people going to their death must be deceived to the very end’. Because of fear, most prisoners never rose up against anything; neither did they attempt to escape nor fight back. The majority kept on hoping for a better tomorrow, which never came.
In order to save money, the prisoners were given tattoos instead of the usual dog tags, and they were also allowed just sufficient food and sleep to survive. The Nazis usually applied this method, as worst as they could with the aim of killing as many prisoners as possible. Since the dead bodies would be burnt at the gas chambers, they were not transported to far places for disposal. Nazis could then use the ash to “fertilize the field or fill in the ponds”. Because of the high death rate, and there was regular shipping of people into the concentration camps. At the camp, prisoners could be split into two, those that could work, and those who couldn't.
The story ends with the prisoners' rebellion, which occurred for a short duration. They managed to cut through the barbed wire fence while trying to free from the camp. However, the S.S. guards, using machine guns, killed all the escapees. The guards never saw anything wrong with their deeds, ranging from killing people, raping, or stealing. They couldn't figure out why the prisoners could attack them, as Borowski summarizes by saying, 'That man didn't understand even to the very end . . . What strange irony of fate.”
In conclusion, although the book This Way for the Gas, Ladies, and Gentlemen is basically fiction, it reflects on Borowski’s own findings and experience while in concentration camps. The two years he spent there, he witnessed unthinkable situations killing of men, women being raped. With such hope as the one Borowski had during the detention, after World War II, both workers and the countrymen had a common education plan. They also experience sometimes tragic conflicts; however, they stood together, bloodshed ceased. Borowski brought forward the fact that no limit of cruelty can make one person put another in the situations which were experienced in the concentration camps. Notwithstanding their cruelty, human also had the capability of self-sacrificing with the aim of helping each other.
