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SHORT NOTES

research in archives (central and provincial ones), which allowed him to recon-struct the genesis of ‘Service to Poland’, its aims, its organizational structure, its personnel, and its evcryday activity. (KK)

Adam Dziurok, Bernard Linek and Krzysztof Tarka (eds.), Stalinizm i rok 1956 na Górnym Śląsku [Stalinism and the Year 1956 in Upper Silesia], Katowice-Opole-Kraków 2007, Wydawnictwo Towarzystwa Naukowego ‘Societas Vistulana’, 383 pp., index of persons

This is a collection of studies depicting the main social processes and political events in Upper Silesia (one of Poland’s most important economic regions) in the years 1945-60. The book consists of four parts. The first, entitlcd ‘The Stalinist System and Its Regional Dimension’, presents the latest theories put forward by Łukasz Kamiński, Krzysztof Szwagrzyk and other historians from Wrocław. They discuss ‘the role of terror in the Stalinist system’ and the system of power in Upper Silesia in 1945-56. The next parts contain analyses of the State security system in Upper Silesia. Adam Dziuba depicts the activity of underground organizations. Adam Dziurok discusses the communist authorities’ policy towards the Catholic Church, taking the Katowice diocese as an example. Worth mentioning is also Bernard Linck’s article on German rcvisionism, in which the author analyzes the genesis of the concept of revisionism and presents the security system’s activity against revisionists. The fourth part of the book presents thrcc studies on the events of 1956. The three authors — Jarosław Ncja, Krzysztof Tarka and Stanisław Jankowiak — pose a provocative ąuestion: ‘was this a turning point or a continuation?’. In their opinion the events of 1956 showed the failure of efforts to transform social consciousness. The defeat of the Stalinist social plan did not mean that the plan lacked lasting conseąuences, the most important bcing the predominant fear of the authorities. The establishment of ‘Solidarity’ in 1980 marked a turning point in this respect. Another lasting conseąuence was that Polish society had learned to function in the communist system, and this in turn led to conformist attitudes. It can therefore be said that despite the spccific character of that region, stalinism in Upper Silesia was a reflection of the situation which prevailed in the whole country. (KK)

Justyna Jaworska, Cywilizacja ‘Przekroju Misja obyczajowa w magazynie ilustrowanym [The Civilization Promoted by Przekrój: Morał Mission in an Illustrated Magazine], Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 293 pp., ills., index of persons, annex, series: Communicare — historia i kultura

The series Communicare edited by Andrzej Mencwel presents both Polish translations of works by well known humanistic researchers (Jacques Le Goff, Jack Goody) and studies by young Polish scholars. Justyna Jaworska’s book is based on the dissertation she wrote at Warsaw University’s Institute of Polish