Recenzja: Katarzyna Wrzesińska, "Kultura i cywilizacja w myśli Narodowej Demokracji (1893–1918). Między ideą wychowania a polityką", Warszawa: Instytut Slawistyki PAN, Fundacja Slawistyczna 2012, ss. 377.

Review of a book by Katarzyna Wrzesińska, Culture and civilization in the thought of National Democratic Party (1893–1918). Between the educational idea and politics, Warszawa: Instytut Slawistyki PAN, Fundacja Slawistyczna 2012, pp. 377.The book by Katarzyna Wrzesińska, a historian of ideas and Polish political thought of the 19th and 20th centuries, a researcher of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, has an ambitious aim to deal with cultural politics of National Democracy, the largest political movement in the history of Polish lands, at the fin-de-siècle. The further themes are, among others, definitions of nation and folk in the nationalist framework, the role and place of educational ideas in a wider scope of the nationalist project, an influence of nationalist ideas on the Polish intelligentsia.Interestingly, Wrzesińska does not correspond with current social sciences debates about definitions and understandings of nationalisms in literature, but tries to step outside them altogether. Undoubtedly, such a new framework would have helped us move forward in studies on Polish nationalism. Paradoxically though, while the book analyzing a wide array of published primary documents, it offers, in the end, a well-known and conventional story on ‘young idealist’ debouched whether by mass-politics or by masses as such. The rhetoric of nationalism is quite evident but not equally obvious from Wrzesińska’s presentation are the ways in which people appropriated that vocabulary and those ideas for their own ends. The author gives then another casual tale on an innocent but cultural nation and, first and foremost, its elites beset by brutal and uncivilized enemies. Epistemological naiveté, surplus of not analyzed details and quotations, and, last but not least, rather surprisingly narrow catalogue of questions does not address how and why the Polish integral nationalists differed from other national strains of this time.All in all, unfortunately, the book does not help to capture the complexity of National Democracy in the Polish history of the period under discussion. Not only it does not substantially extend our knowledge on the subject, but as well obscures and blocks serious questions about this political movement and its toxic legacy.Recenzja: Katarzyna Wrzesińska, Kultura i cywilizacja w myśli Narodowej Demokracji (1893–1918). Między ideą wychowania a polityką, Warszawa: Instytut Slawistyki PAN, Fundacja Slawistyczna 2012, ss. 377.Książka Katarzyny Wrzesińskiej, historyczki idei oraz polskiej myśli politycznej w XIX i XX wieku, związanej z Instytutem Slawistyki PAN, stawia sobie ambitny cel: omówienie polityki kulturowej Narodowej Demokracji, największego ruchu politycznego na ziemiach polskich przełomu XIX i XX stulecia. Książka porusza kwestię definicji „narodu” i „ludu” w nacjonalistycznej ramie pojęciowej, roli pomysłów edukacyjnych w szerszym spektrum projektu nacjonalistycznego oraz wpływu nacjonalistycznych idei na polską inteligencję.K. Wrzesińska nie odnosi się do obecnie toczącej się w naukach społecznych debaty dotyczącej definicji i rozumienia nacjonalizmu w literaturze, decyduje się zupełnie pominąć tę dyskusję. Bez wątpienia nowa rama teoretyczna pozwoliłaby rozwinąć studia nad polskim nacjonalizmem. Paradoksalnie jednak, chociaż autorka analizuje szeroki zestaw publikowanych już, podstawowych dokumentów, na koniec oferuje dobrze znaną i konwencjonalną opowieść o „młodych idealistach”, z czasem uformowanych przez masową politykę lub przez masy jako takie. Retoryka nacjonalizmu jest sama w sobie wystarczająco zrozumiała, jednak w obrazie stworzonym przez Wrzesińską nie jest oczywiste, w jaki sposób nacjonalistyczne słownictwo i idee zostały powszechnie przejęte i wykorzystane. Autorka tworzy za to kolejną wymijającą opowieść o niewinnej i kulturalnej nacji oraz – przede wszystkim – o jej elicie, napastowanej przez brutalnych i niecywilizowanych przeciwników. Epistemologiczna naiwność, nadmiar niezanalizowanych cytatów oraz wąski zestaw pytań badawczych nie pozwalają w pełni przedstawić przyczyn i sposobu, w jaki polski integralny nacjonalizm różnił się od innych nacjonalistycznych nurtów epoki.Niestety książka nie pomaga zrozumieć złożoności sytuacji Narodowej Demokracji w polskiej historii omawianego okresu. Nie tylko w niewystarczający sposób poszerza naszą wiedzę, lecz również blokuje poważne pytania na temat tego ruchu i jego toksycznej spuścizny

Globalne tezy, lokalne przemilczenia

Global theses with local omissionsTimothy Snyder’s book is an ambitious monograph which attempts at placing Shoah in a more appropriate context of the murderous fight between the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Russia from the perspective of civilian victims. However, the book offers no new evidence or new arguments. On the one hand, most of the interpretations come from established scholars. On the other hand, Bloodlands presents a sort of synthesis of the latest discussions of the Holocaust historians and Eastern European experience of the Soviet rule. Nonetheless, as Snyder himself has stated, the novelty of the book lies rather in a parallel insight into systems and events. Such “parallelism” must, and surely will, trigger a wealth of reflections.The review article focuses on one particular aspect of the book. One of the most suggestive assumptions of Snyder’s method is that the book overcomes national narratives by examining the cruelest period in the 20th century from the above-mentioned universal point of view. However, for Snyder, a leading scholar of Eastern European, and first and foremost, Polish history, these “national” motifs play a significant, and often even crucial role in his book.Yet, as it is claimed in the review, the author frequently cannot free himself from them. On the contrary, his narrative delivers systematic permeations of Polish martyrological stereotypes and biases, which in the end results in a reproduction of many handbook schemes and even metaphorical figures from the so-called Polish “historical politics”. This also leads to many false and misleading juxtapositions with the most striking one being the comparison between the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and Warsaw Uprising.Interestingly enough, evading many national particularities, Snyder relapses in deeply rooted national, and to be specific, Polish tales. He proves to be more “national” than many other “national” scholars critical in their research of this period

Structure and Miocene evolution of the Gdów tectonic "embayment" (Polish Carpathian Foredeep) : a new model based on reinterpreted seismic data

Analysis of previously available stratigraphic data coupled with the re-interpretation of seismic profiles calibrated by boreholes has allowed the construction of a new tectonic model of evolution of the Gdów "embayment" - a tectonic re-entrant located along the Carpathian front east of Kraków (southern Poland). This model shows that the main phase of localized fault-controlled subsidence took place in the Early Badenian and was associated with deposition of the locally overthickened Skawina Formation. Also, deposition of evaporites of the Wieliczka Formation seems to have been tectonically controlled by local basement faulting. Supra-evaporitic siliciclastic deposits have developed as a result of overall north-directed sediment progradation from the eroded Carpathian belt towards the Carpathian Foredeep. During the final stages of development of the Carpathian fold-and-thrust wedge the previously subsiding Gdów "embayment" area was uplifted and basement faults were reactivated either as reverse faults or as low angle thrust faults. Along the leading edge of this inverted structure a triangle zone developed, with backthrusting along the evaporitic level. As a result, overthickened evaporites, formed in local tectonically-controlled depressions within the area of the Gdów "embayment" area have been strongly folded and internally deformed

Deep seismic reflection profiles in SE Poland reveal a Variscan thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt encroaching the East European Craton

20th EGU General Assembly, EGU2018, Proceedings from the conference held 4-13 April, 2018 in Vienna, AustriaRecent years have brought a significant progress in understanding of the external Variscides in Poland. Combined POLCRUST-01 and PolandSPAN deep seismic surveys imaged for the first time a Variscan thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt that encroaches onto a little deformed basement slope of the East European Craton (EEC) much farther eastward than the previously postulated position of the Variscan deformation front. This deformed belt consists of several tectonic units, to a various degree overprinted by Variscan shortening and inversion (Fragment tekstu)

The shape of the Variscan Belt in Central Europe : strike-slip tectonics versus oroclinal bending

"The European Variscan belt sharply changes its trend in easternmost Germany and western Poland, where the ENE- to NE-striking structures are replaced by the ESE- to SE-trending ones. The structures of still another, NNE-SSW strike, take the lead, however, along the SE margin of the Bohemian Massif. The Variscan belt seems, thus, to make nearly a U-turn, encircling the Bohemian Massif from the north. This has been explained for almost a century by assuming a 180° oroclinal loop, in which the Rhenohercynian and Saxothuringian tectonostratigraphic zones inarm the core of the Bohemian Massif. According to this classical view, the outermost tectonostratigraphic zone of the Variscan belt, the Rhenohercynian Zone, continues eastward in the deep substratum of the Permian-Mesozoic basin and reappears at the surface along the eastern rim of the Bohemian Massif." (fragm.

Late Palaeozoic strike-slip tectonics versus oroclinal bending at the SW outskirts of Baltica: case of the Variscan belt’s eastern end in Poland

Geophysical and geological data from the eastern sector of the Central European Variscan belt are presented and reviewed in the regional tectonic context. Matched filtering of isostatic gravity, guided by results of spectral analysis, along with other derivatives of gravity and magnetic fields reveal a dominant WNW–ESE-trending pre-Permian structural grain in the external zones of the Variscan belt in Poland. This trend is confirmed by regional distribution of dips in Carboniferous and Devonian strata that were penetrated by boreholes beneath Permian-Mesozoic sediments. Based on these data, two alternative concepts explaining the connection of the Variscan belt and its NE foreland, those of strike-slip tectonics versus oroclinal bending, are discussed. The WNW–ESE structural trend in the Variscan foreland is parallel to a set of major strike-slip fault zones in the area, including those of Upper Elbe, Intra-Sudetic, Odra, Dolsk and Kraków-Lubliniec. These faults are considered to convey a significant dextral displacement between Laurussia and Gondwana. The revised position of the Variscan deformation front shows a similar, uninterrupted, generally WNW–ESE trend, up to the SE border of Poland, which indicates an initial continuation of the Variscan belt into the area of the present-day Western Carpathians. The geometry of the Variscan deformation front along with the pattern of the Variscan structural grain are inconsistent with the idea of an oroclinal loop affecting the external, non-metamorphic Variscan belt. However, the data presented do not entirely rule out an oroclinal loop within the Variscan internides. The still possible options are (1) a semi-oroclinal model postulating ~ 90° bending of the Variscan tectonostratigraphic zones into parallelism with the WNW–ESE strike-slip faults or (2) an orocline limited only to the belt linking the Wolsztyn High and Moravo-Silesian non- to weakly-metamorphic fold-and-thrust belt. Regardless of the kinematic model preferred, our data indicate that structural evolution of the Polish Variscides was concluded with the end-Carboniferous NNE–SSW shortening that resulted in the present-day extent of the Variscan deformation front

Tertiary development of the Polish and eastern Slovak parts of the Carpathian accretionary wedge : insights from balanced cross-sections

During Eocene-Sarmatian, a Polish-eastern Slovak portion of the Outer West Carpathian accretionary wedge was deformed in front of the ALCAPA terrane. This portion advanced into the area of the subducting remnant Carpathian Flysch Basin, a large oceanic tract left in front of the Alpine orogen. Western parts of the wedge were characterized by a noticeable lack of involvement of thick-skin thrusting and by a predominant development of fault-propagation folds. Eastern parts of the wedge were characterized by the involvement of thick-skin thrusting, triangle zones and back-thrusts. The frontal portion of the wedge was characterized by a décollement formed along the shale and gypsum formations of the Badenian molasse sediments, which resulted in the increased width of the thrust sheets. Forelandward thinning of foreland basin sediments indicates that the portion of the European Platform attached to the subducting oceanic lithosphere flexed underneath the advancing Carpathians as early as the Eocene. Oligocene sediments record syn-depositional thrusting by abrupt thickness changes over short distances. Younger periods of the thrusting are documented by the Eggenburgian-Karpatian piggy-back basin carried by thrust sheets in the frontal portion of the ALCAPA terrane, the Early Miocene age of the youngest sediments in the central portion of the wedge and involvement of the middle Badenian molasse sediments in the frontal portion of the wedge. The end of the shortening is documented by the lower Sarmatian end of the strike-slip fault activity behind the wedge, by the middle Sarmatian transgression over the deformed wedge in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin, which is located in the rear portion of the wedge, and by the Sarmatian undeformed sediments sealing the wedge front. The existence of the forebulge in front of the advancing Carpathians is documented by local Eocene, Oligocene and Lower Miocene unconformities in the frontal portion of the wedge

MIF-mediated hemodilution promotes pathogenic anemia in experimental African trypanosomosis

Animal African trypanosomosis is a major threat to the economic development and human health in sub-Saharan Africa. Trypanosoma congolense infections represent the major constraint in livestock production, with anemia as the major pathogenic lethal feature. The mechanisms underlying anemia development are ill defined, which hampers the development of an effective therapy. Here, the contribution of the erythropoietic and erythrophagocytic potential as well as of hemodilution to the development of T. congolense-induced anemia were addressed in a mouse model of low virulence relevant for bovine trypanosomosis. We show that in infected mice, splenic extramedullary erythropoiesis could compensate for the chronic low-grade type I inflammation-induced phagocytosis of senescent red blood cells ( RBCs) in spleen and liver myeloid cells, as well as for the impaired maturation of RBCs occurring in the bone marrow and spleen. Rather, anemia resulted from hemodilution. Our data also suggest that the heme catabolism subsequent to sustained erythrophagocytosis resulted in iron accumulation in tissue and hyperbilirubinemia. Moreover, hypoalbuminemia, potentially resulting from hemodilution and liver injury in infected mice, impaired the elimination of toxic circulating molecules like bilirubin. Hemodilutional thrombocytopenia also coincided with impaired coagulation. Combined, these effects could elicit multiple organ failure and uncontrolled bleeding thus reduce the survival of infected mice. MIF ( macrophage migrating inhibitory factor), a potential pathogenic molecule in African trypanosomosis, was found herein to promote erythrophagocytosis, to block extramedullary erythropoiesis and RBC maturation, and to trigger hemodilution. Hence, these data prompt considering MIF as a potential target for treatment of natural bovine trypanosomosis