Department of Research on the History of Poland after 1945

Head: Professor Dariusz Jarosz

Dr Julia Buyskykh
Associate professor Bartosz Kaliski
Dr Michał Przeperski
Professor Mykola Riabchuk
Professor Tomasz Szarota
Associate professor Ewelina Szpak
Dr hab. Patryk Wasiak
Associate professor Hubert Wilk – Department Secretary
Professor Tadeusz Wolsza

Cooperators:
Piotr Donefner, MA
Associate professor Natalia Jarska
Professor Zbigniew Romek
Dr Michał Studniarek

The most important research directions and achievements

The interests of the Department’s employees focus on the social and political history of the Polish People’s Republic. Most often, they tackled completely new issues, and their monographs are pioneering in nature, based on deep archival research. Among them, it is worth mentioning the studies on the social history of post-war motorisation in Poland (Associate professor Hubert Wilk), on the social determinants of cancer and environmental pollution (Associate professor Ewelina Szpak), and on the phenomenon of writing letters to the authorities by “ordinary people” in the Polish People’s Republic. (Associate professor Ewelina Szpak and Professor Dariusz Jarosz), on the social functioning of labor camps in Poland (Professor Tadeusz Wolsza), on sport in Poland after 1945 (Professor Tadeusz Wolsza) and on the everyday life of soldiers of the Polish People’s Army (Professor Dariusz Jarosz). Additionally, the Department’s employees dealt with issues of the functioning of Polish society during World War II (Professor Tomasz Szarota) and the political history of the Polish People’s Republic, in particular people in power and anti-system rebellions (Professor Jerzy Eisler).

The most important element of the integration of the Department’s employees is participation in the editing of the yearbook Polska 1944/45–1989. Studies and materials. The scientific plans of the Department include the creation of a compendium of the social history of Poland in the years 1944–1989.

Research projects carried out individually (in alphabetical order)

• “About restoring the memory of characters, events and symbols” – Professor Tomasz Szarota (IH PAN funds);
• “Against the party, censorship and propaganda. Repressions against Poles proclaiming the truth about the Katyn massacre 1944–1956” – Professor Tadeusz Wolsza (IH PAN funds);
• “Cain’s crimes” – Professor Tomasz Szarota (IH PAN funds);
• “Cancer in Post-war Poland. A Socio-Cultural History” – Associate professor Ewelina Szpak (research project funded by National Science Center, Poland (wordpress.com));
• “Contacts of the Polish automotive industry with Fiat in the 1980s” – Associate professor Hubert Wilk (IH PAN funds);
• “History of the Polish United Workers’ Party” – Professor Jerzy Eisler (IH PAN funds);
• “Jiří Lederer (1922–1983) – journalist, oppositionist, hero of two nations (Czech and Polish)” – Associate professor Bartosz Kaliski (IH PAN funds);
• „Letters to the authorities as a source for research on the social history of the Polish People’s Republic” – Associate professor Ewelina Szpak (website of the NCN research project (2016–2019) (wordpress.com));
• „Letters to the authorities as a source for research on the social history of the Polish People’s Republic” – Professor Dariusz Jarosz (website of the NCN research project (2016–2019) (wordpress.com));
• “Modernity, quality and aesthetics” of home appliances. Turning ideologies into material culture artefacts in late state socialist Poland (1970–1989) – Dr. P. Wasiak (SONATA research project, National Science Center, 2016/23/D/HS3/03199, July 2017–June 2021);
• “Social aspects of compulsory military service in the Polish People’s Republic” – Professor Dariusz Jarosz (IH PAN funds);
•  “Social History of massmotorisation in post-war Poland” – Associate professor Hubert Wilk (IH PAN funds);
• “Society of the Polish People’s Republic and the natural environment” – Associate professor Ewelina Szpak (IH PAN funds);
• “The culture of amateur writing programs for home computers in the 1980s in the context of cognitive capitalism – Dr. Patryk Wasiak (NCN research project OPUS 2020/37/B/HS3/03610 (2021–2023);
• “The role of adaptation strategies in the everyday life of Central and Eastern European societies in the years 1944/1945–1990, with particular emphasis on Poland” – Professor Dariusz Jarosz (funds of the organisers of the General Congress of Polish Historians in Białystok);
• “The truth of time, the truth of the screen” History of Poland 1914–1989 in a feature film – Professor Jerzy Eisler (IH PAN funds).