Dear Readers!
We give you the first editorial of the Internet portal Freedom Archive Przemysl land and region 1967-1997 - opposition activities and civic initiatives, which was created thanks to funding Museum of Polish History in Warsaw as part of the competition "Patriotism of Tomorrow"..
The portal covers a period of local history that is little known because it is insufficiently publicized and therefore almost forgotten. To fill this gap, follow the keywords: opposition, freedom, solidarity, patriotism, independent culture, conservatism, sacrifice, struggle, justice, humanity, art, philosophy - in their local contexts. This is because the aim of the project is to present the history of the people and events of the southeastern Polish region, who participated directly and indirectly in the process of building freedom during the times of communist enslavement, in a country isolated at the time from the contacts and influence of the free world. This experience is our local heritage, however, demanding wider dissemination and commemoration.
The main effect of our work carried out under the project is the recorded and written memoirs of witnesses of those times. The portal also includes a collection of archival materials, photos, publications, archival materials provided by the Institute of National Remembrance and private individuals.
The protagonists of the project are activists of the Solidarity Trade Union, as well as people and opposition circles, grouped around the independent "Cultural Attic" association. We evoke here the memories of both those people who bought their struggle for freedom with arrests, harassment by the communist authorities, difficulties in their careers, and those whose struggle against communism was expressed through cultural activities and art, less confrontationally contesting the reality of the time. In addition, those who were indirectly involved in opposition activities share their memories. All of these people from different backgrounds and walks of life shared a desire for change in the country through opposition to the omnipotence of the regime.
During the communist years, these environments waged a freedom struggle expressed through a wide range of activities, developed on three levels: agricultural opposition, underground solidarity and independent culture. Their activities, more or less significantly, made their mark on the recent history of our city and region so clearly that Przemyśl, as the British philosopher Sir Roger Scruton recalled, was seen as "a haven of civil society in a bleak socialist state." We were determined to preserve the identity of a city of free culture and lifestyle, based on Christian-conservative values, inspiring the aspirations for a better tomorrow that is now our present.
We are aware that the material presented here is modest given the scale of activity there and the fact that southeastern Poland occupies an important place on the map of national social resistance, but we assure you that on an ongoing basis, as new materials are collected, the portal will be enriched and expanded.
Therefore, we encourage you to share with us your experiences, experiences and memorabilia from that period to expand the framework of the portal. Please write to us at e-mail: [email protected]
We would like to thank all those who have already shared their valuable memories with us and provided their own archival materials. We would also like to thank the institutions that support us in this endeavor, including the Institute of National Remembrance Rzeszow Branch and the National Museum of the Przemysl Region.
Editorial
