Język Polski
English
How to Talk about Wartime Patriotism?
Maria Ciostek
A Selection of Readings for High School Students
Abstract
World War II is one of the most difficult topics at school. War-related literature showcases different human attitudes towards danger and evil. Polish high school teachers have the possibility of choosing books from a list, hence the issue of patriotic attitudes and morality in wartime can be presented in a broad variety of ways. The article analyses the Ministry of Education list of books (for instance the Short Stories of Tadeusz Borowski or Gustaw Herling-Grudziński’s A World Apart) and texts not on the list (e.g. Karolina Lanckorońska’s memoirs). The main reason for comparing these texts is to present possibilities of broadening the canon of basic literature by including different works about wartime patriotism and exploring ways of talking about them with students.
The mentioned literary works on war exemplify different ways of discussing morality in wartime – according to Borowski, it is natural for people to abandon ethical rules in times of terror, whereas according to Grudziński, the decisions made at such a time are to be subjected to moral judgement. Lanckorońska’s book, meanwhile, features a main character who wants to follow ethical and patriotic principles despite the terror. Finally, this article shows how these texts can be used in working with high school students.
Keywords:
World War II, high school curricula, reading lists, Tadeusz Borowski, Gustaw Herling-Grudziński, Karolina LanckorońskaDetails
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
