Central and Eastern European countries were subjugated to the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. In this new political environment, defined as the period of dependency, the concept of space gained a new denotation as a space of dependence, in both social and physical terms. The political changes that took place after 1989 enabled these spaces to be emancipated. In this work, we aim to delineate the complex relationship between architecture and politics from the perspective of spaces of dependence and their emancipation. Through a case study of two squares, plac Żołnierza Polskiego (the Square of the Polish Soldier) and plac Solidarności (Solidarity Square) in Szczecin, we gained insights into the processes and strategies that promoted their evolution into spaces of emancipation within architectural and urban narratives. Szczecin’s space of dependence was created by an authoritarian state that had a monopoly on defining architecture and urban planning in the country and the state as a whole. In a process orchestrated by economic factors, as well as the scale of architectural and urban degradation, the squares under discussion have transitioned from spaces of dependency to spaces of emancipation. As a result, an architectural-urban structure characterized by new cultural and identity values has been created.
In the Polish People’s Republic, there was a heated discussion about biography studies, especially after 1956, when the agenda from the co-called “Otwock directives” was abolished. It was once again possible to expand historical reflections to include people and their unique contribution to the shape of the history. Marxist guidelines, however, were not abandoned totally. The most pressing issue was to find a method that would on the one hand satisfy historians, and, on the other, be acceptable to the country’s authorities. Many solutions were suggested and this paper focuses on them. The starting point is the reflections included in editorials in “Kwartalnik Historyczny”, “Dzieje Najnowsze” and other periodicals. As the matter of fact, the meaning of discussions in the communist era goes beyond the historical dimension and encourages the reflection on contemporary biography studies.
Max Weber, klasyk socjologii, opisywał fenomen religijnych wirtuozów, ludzi wzniosłej i czystej duchowości, odróżniających się od innych wyznawców szczególną pasją. Ten typ religijności naukowiec nazwał "ascetyczną" i twierdził, że "religijne wirtuozostwo prowadzi zawsze nie tylko do podporządkowania naturalnych popędów usystematyzowanemu sposobowi życia, ale także do poddawania z gruntu radykalnej religijno-etycznej krytyce stosunku do społecznego życia wspólnoty, z jego nieuchronnie nieheroicznymi, lecz utylitarno-konwencjonalnymi cnotami" 1 . W wielu sytuacjach prowadziło to do napięć, ponieważ świat masowej religijności nie zawsze ze zrozumieniem przyjmował i przyjmuje ludzi cechujących się duchową pasją. Weberowski termin nasunął mi się przy lekturze recenzowanej książki, choć członkowie szczecińskiego duszpasterstwa akademickiego (dalej: DA) z kilku pierwszych powojennych dziesięcioleci ani nie byli, ani nawet nie przypominali klasztornych zakonników, członków radykalnych protestanckich wspólnot czy żydowskich peruszim. Nie chodzi więc o dosłowność, ale o pewne, niech będzie, że jedynie drobne, podobieństwo wyrażające się w dokonaniu wyboru i przyjęciu postawy, może nie narażającej uczestników grupy na ekstremalne wyzwania,
Although there is no published biography of Piotr Zaremba, there are quite a few works that can be helpful in bringing closer the figure and personality of Piotr Zaremba, see e.g. Kazi mierz Kozłowski, "Piotr Zaremba -pierwszy prezydent polskiego Szczecina z perspektywy III RP", in:
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