Poland after 1989 in Jerzy Giedroyc's dialogue with Ewa Berberyusz and Tomasz Jastrun

Abstract

The aim of this article is to isolate the most important problems that became apparent in the columns: „Kartki ze skażonej strefy” by Ewa Berberyusz and „Z ukosa” by Tomasz Jastrun (Smecz) published in the pages of the Parisian Kultura between 1990 and 2000. Analysis of letters and texts in the periodical has made it possible to identify a catalogue of challenges of the Polish transformation. The designated columnists represented the paper’s mainstream in their assessment of post-1989 socio-political reality in Poland. The subject matter is very important for understanding the fluctuations on the Polish political scene in the following years. Indeed, the first period of transition saw the birth of divisions and conceptualised the ideological currents that emanated from the various governments. The assessment of reality in the materials examined was highly critical and largely consistent with the Editor’s views. It constituted a kind of reckoning with the myth of „Solidarity”, a verification of the working style of the new elites and the old hopes, expectations and assessments. An analysis of the content reveals the need for an identity reconsideration.