mgr Michał Gniadek-Zieliński

Section 2.: On the trail of the Bolesławs - memory of the rule of the first Piasts

The paper will serve to present a fragment of my book in the making about Polish cultural memory of King Bolesław the Brave. I will outline the problem of the reception of the figure by the Polish national movement in the interwar period and during WWII. First, I will outline the celebrations of the 900th anniversary of the royal coronation in 1925, showing that they were organized by the National Democrats and that they were a trigger for the development of the popularity of the first Polish king in this environment. Here, I will also mention the thread of the Congress of Historians in Poznań in 1925. Then, I will talk about the genesis of the so-called "Mieczyk Chrobry", the symbol of nationalist organizations. I will also mention other elements of the aesthetic staffage of Polish nationalism in the 1930s, related to Bolesław the Brave. Next, I will outline the political concepts of nationalists, in which they inscribed the myth of Bolesław, showing their historical development.