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Dagnostaw Demski
in these pictures, although it is, in a way, marked in the figures of armed soldiers.
If we were to name the type of mediation of events here, I would choose the meta¬
phor of a filter—a selective approach that focuses attention on and moves closer to
some events, cutting off access to the images of other events. We do not know what
really happened in these moments as there are probably no other “media” apart
from human memory that would present these events.
A similar message is presented in Figure 1," showing the celebration of an
anniversary (including a Catholic mass) of the Silesian Uprising in Géra $wietej
Anny (‘Mount St. Anna’) and confirming that area’s accession to the Polish state.
This photo, like the others, documents a strategy of representing the beginnings of
a society at the stage of stressing the relationships between people, territory, and the
new government, joined by the new “common” spirit of socialism.
Imagined Communities in Construction (Late 1940 and Early 1950s)
Karol Swierczewski is a well-known Polish figure, present in history books: a gen¬
eral of the Polish People’s Army who died tragically soon after the war (1947). He
had been frequently photographed.'* According to the museum caption of the
photograph in Figure 5, “He has sat down, having awarded the Military Crosses
to the parents of the soldiers who died in combat with the bands”. The event is
related to Operation Vistula, directed against the activities of the Ukrainian Insur¬
gent Army (UPA) in the southeastern part of Poland. The previous photographs
documented the stage of mapping out new borders, these are showing the stage of
protecting these borders. Together, the photos indicate the existence of an imag¬
ined community that has to reaffirm and prove its connections with the territory.
The other side—the enemy of the new state—is not visible, however, is notice¬
able by the presence of its victims. In a state of domestic war, the visual distance
between the observer and the observed is too far to show it in other categories
such as death or danger. From the point of view of the message, this type of pho¬
tograph may be classified along with the previous ones, in which the “people’s
government”? meets the populace. In this manner, the photos present the gov¬
ernment and suggest that it takes care of the people and protects them from the
enemies of state. The general symbolizes strong authority. Only the general is men¬
tioned here by name, the rest of the people serve only as a background or, rather, as
a human type, representing those under the general’s protection. A similar motif of
7 From the album for comrade Boleslaw Bierut, president of the Government of National Unity, to
commemorate the celebration of the 25 anniversary of Silesian Insurgent’s Action in Göra $wietej Anny,
where 300,000 people testified to the entire world the Polishness and unbreakable link of the “Regained
Territories” to the Polish Republic. The chairman of the main board of the Association of Veterans of
Silesian Uprisings, col. Jerzy Zietek, vice-voivode of Slasko-Dabrowskie Voivodeship.
'8 These photographs are part of the collection of the Museum of Independence.
5 In this case also military command.