Means of presentation of Galicia in textbooks on History for secondary schools from the end of the nineteenth century to the fall of communist Poland: analysis of historical policy

Abstract

The article shows how authors of school textbooks on history presented Galicia. The author indicates that the ways of presenting the former Habsburg province resulted from historical policy dominant in a given period of time. Therefore, textbooks created in Galicia before 1918 reflected the point of view of conservative formation „stańczycy” and accentuated loyalty to the Habsburgs. During the Second Republic of Poland (after 1926 years) Galicia was presented as a Polish „Piemont”, which was the result of historical policy introduced by a political formation called „sanacja”. After the Second World War, Galicia was presented according to Marxist ideology in turn and assumptions reflecting the historical policy of the communist state.