Military operations on all fronts of World War II brought material destruction of the existing world and deaths of millions of people of various nationalities. New means of mass destruction increased the magnitude of human tragedy, which assumed an unimaginable scale. As such, the significance of propaganda dimension of war may somewhat escape. Wrongly so, as propaganda was a powerful weapon used by both the German Nazis and Soviet Communists. Thus, the propaganda as a war-waging tool is the central theme in the fourth issue of War and Remembrance.
“During World War II, it became clear that a well-implemented information policy was as significant a key to victory as fighting on the front. […] Through media manipulation, an attempt was made to eradicate all ideas and views incompatible with the prevailing doctrine and to create a homogeneous society, fully compliant with the expansionist state policy,” reads the preface to War and Remembrance.
Accordingly, the subject of wartime propaganda deserves an in-depth academic analysis. The periodical devotes to it three extensive articles. Renata Piasecka-Strzelec addresses the issues of radio stations – hostile and allied to Polish affairs. Sebastian Piątkowski focuses on the Soviet Union’s image in the Polish-language press of the General Government, while Wojciech Grott analyses publications from the so-called “Warsaw Series” in the context of a pseudo-historical narrative.
The fourth issue of the periodical features four articles in the Miscellany section. Two of them refer to Westerplatte – the first depicts the German-Soviet battles in March and April 1945, while the second discusses the results of archaeological research conducted on the Peninsula between 2018 and 2019. Contemporary research work is additionally referred to in the text exploring material traces of crimes in the Chojnice’s Death Valley. It is also worthwhile to read the article analysing Adam Bunsch’s letters to his wife which contain reflections on the August mobilisation and the Polish Campaign of 1939.
The issue is complemented by the report on conference “The fate of Polish teachers during WWII: historical and legal perspective and contemporary education challenges” as well as the discussion on publication about German camp for Polish children in Łódź: Mały Oświęcim. Dziecięcy obóz w Łodzi.
The fourth issue of the periodical War and Remembrance is available in the online museum store. We also encourage you to visit the store located on –3 level of the museum building.
War and Remembrance. Periodical of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk 2022, no. 4, pp. 216, ISSN: 2658-0446.
Table of contents of this issue:
