The Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Jan Karski Institute of War Losses announce the publication of a new academic journal, ‘Studies and Materials of the Institute of War Losses’
During today's press conference, the Chancellery of the Prime Minister and the Institute of War Losses announced the publication of the first issue of the biannual journal "Studies and Materials of the Institute of War Losses" – a specialist academic journal devoted to the issue of broadly understood Polish war losses suffered by the Polish state and its citizens in the 20th century, with particular emphasis on the experiences of World War II.
‘The publication of the first issue of the biannual journal ’Studies and Materials of the Institute of War Losses" is an important step in the process of systematically documenting and analysing the losses suffered by Poland as a result of Soviet aggression and occupation. Reliable scientific research, based on archival sources, is the foundation of the report on the losses caused by the Soviet Union that is currently being prepared. The Jan Karski Institute of War Losses plays a key role in this process, said Minister Jakub Stefaniak.
"The journal will publish works by both Polish and foreign researchers, which will promote the exchange of research experiences and broaden scientific perspectives," said Dr Bartosz Gondek, director of the Institute of War Losses.
Studies and Materials is a periodical whose aim is to present the latest research achievements of representatives of various scientific disciplines – in particular historians, experts and lawyers. It presents the Eastern Borderlands of the Second Polish Republic as an area of intensive state, social and cultural development, and at the same time as an area particularly affected by the effects of warfare, occupation and post-war political decisions. This volume was edited by Dr Bartosz Gondek and Dr Damian Markowski.
The volume opens with a foreword by the director of the Institute, Dr Bartosz Gondek, outlining the mission of the publication and the importance of research into the long-term effects of war and occupation, particularly the aggression of the USSR.
The article section includes texts presenting the state of Polish scientific, cultural, material and social achievements before 1939. And so:
The process of liquidating Polish universities in Lviv and Vilnius after the Soviet invasion of 17 September 1939 was analysed, showing the scale of repression against academic circles as part of the planned destruction of the Polish intellectual elite (Prof. Maciej Franz).
The functioning and significance of museum collections in the south-eastern provinces of the Second Polish Republic were examined, focusing on the institutions, collections and people who contributed to the pre-war cultural heritage of the region (Dr Liubomyr Khakhula).
The achievements of the Second Polish Republic in the construction of public buildings in the Eastern Borderlands were examined, highlighting the scale of infrastructure investments and their civilisational significance (Dr Michał Pszczółkowski).
The state of the Polish Army's land forces in the Eastern Borderlands on the eve of World War II was verified, showing the military potential and its limitations in the face of the impending aggression (Dr Adam Adrian Ostanek, Professor at the Military University of Technology).
The Polish ownership structure in the Vilnius Province before World War II was validated by analysing the ownership and social structure in the region (Dr Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska).
The state of infrastructure in Lviv in 1939 was verified in the light of documents from the first months of Soviet occupation, revealing the rapid process of degradation of the city (Dr Adam Rafał Kaczyński).
The volume is supplemented by reflective and ethical texts:
Prof. Anna Odrowąż-Coates addressed the ethical and social implications of trading in items related to victims of genocide and mass crimes, pointing to the moral dilemmas of the contemporary trade in such artefacts.
Dr Bartosz Gondek and Dr Tomasz Luterek analysed the problem of redefining the Polish borderlands as an element of preserving and creating the culture of memory of displaced persons in the western territories after 1945.
The issue concludes with an essay by Dr Damian Karol Markowski, which is a reflection on the destruction of the Galician town of Buczacz.
The publication of this new journal is an important part of the mission of the Jan Karski Institute of War Losses. Its operation under the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland is an expression of the current government's unequivocal desire to learn about the material and human losses inflicted on Poland by the Soviet occupation during the war and as a result of the Soviet Union's long-term domination of Poland in the second half of the 20th century. By recognising the legitimacy of the Institute's existence and activities, the authorities of the Republic of Poland are sending a clear signal that it is high time to reclaim this part of Polish history, which has been unjustly forgotten until recently, and to settle accounts – not only with Germany, but also with the legal and political heirs of the USSR.
