At the time of a breakthrough: everyday life of inhabitants of Toruń from the end of the Great War until the time of unification (1918-1921)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/RT.2019.005Keywords
World War I, social changes, independence, unification, everyday lifeAbstract
The aim of the article is to present the issues related to the daily hardships experienced by inhabitants of Toruń during the period of political changes related to the end of the First World War and the transition of the city and the region under the rule of the independent Polish state. For inhabitants of Toruń both the time of the Great War and the period prior to Toruń’s incorporation into the Republic of Poland was a period of sacrifices and caused them to experience shortages of basic necessities. Political turmoil did not favor satisfactory provisioning, which indirectly affected the health condition and social moods of Toruń’s residents. At that time, the city was also one of the main transfer points for war refugees. The incorporation of the city into free Poland, awaited by Poles, did not immediately bring the desired prosperity, as Poland was entangled in the conflict in the east and devastated by the war. At the beginning of 1920 Toruń, despite many material deficits and shortages, became a desirable place for newcomers from behind the former cordon. The transition time between the end of the war and the unification within the reborn Polish state also became a period of accelerated changes in the local community. Its national structure changed significantly, unemployment became a serious problem for the local authorities, and there was an increase in the number of criminal offences and pathological phenomena (e.g. prostitution); what is more, the process of women's emancipation clearly became apparent.
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