Książki/rozdziały (WNH)
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Browsing Książki/rozdziały (WNH) by Subject "Akcja rewindykacji cerkwi prawosławnych w II Rzeczypospolitej"
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- ItemBuilding National Identity through Negation: Problem of Orthodox Churches in the Second Polish Republic(Kaliskie Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk, 2016) Błotnicka-Mazur, ElżbietaAfter the end of World War I, Poland regained its long-awaited independence. For the politics of the newly reborn state, question of material and spiritual reconstruction of the state and rebuilding the sense of national identity among its inhabitants became a priority. National identity may be based on positive as well as on negative social attitudes. This paper examines one aspect of the policy of building Polish identity, implemented by authorities in the Second Polish Republic, as well as results of founding it on the negation of the “Other” – using Emmanuel Lévinas’ term – by focusing on the Orthodox Church and fate of the Orthodox churches in Poland in the interwar period. Situation of the Orthodox Church in the Second Polish Republic was very difficult. Absence of legal regulations was conducive to mass recovery actions, leading to demolition, or at best, conversion of the former Orthodox temples into Catholic churches. In central regions of Poland, first years after regaining independence were dominated by spontaneous reactions of the society towards religious symbols of the bygone tsarist Russification – which undoubtedly Orthodox churches were. While the ‘re-Moscow-ing’ [odmoskwianie] of the major Polish cities was ‘emotionally’ justified, the last phase of the reclamation actions increased the anti-Polish attitudes among the Ukrainian and Belarusian (mostly Orthodox) communities. In consequence it was a shortsighted policy. Negation of the “Other’s” identity in the name of reinforcing national single-ethnic self-identity provided weak foundations for the state, that collapsed with the outbreak of World War II.