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“Between Two Totalitarianisms”: War, Social Disruption, and the Martyrology of Lublin (1944–1945) in the Diaries of Fr. Józef Kruszyński
Abstract
The article offers a multidimensional analysis of the events that took place in Lublin between 1944 and 1945, presented through the lens of the ego‑documents of Fr. Józef Kruszyński – the vicar general of the Diocese of Lublin, eyewitness and chronicler of the era. By juxtaposing official propaganda narratives with the priest’s personal diary entries, the study reconstructs the social, political, military, and martyrological transformations occurring during the collapse of German occupation and the installation of communist rule. The handwritten diaries – approximately 10,000 pages – provide detailed accounts of the Soviet air raid on Lublin on 11 May 1944, the massacre of prisoners in Lublin Castle in July 1944, social tensions accompanying the return of Jewish survivors, and the political instrumentalization of mourning ceremonies by the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN). Particularly striking are Kruszyński’s descriptions, such as his depiction of the bombing: “It seemed that all hell had hung over the city and declared its annihilation” (J. Kruszyński, Diary 11, fol. 1481–1482). The article also examines the post‑war degradation of the Majdanek concentration camp site, which the priest described as “unheard‑of vandalism” (J. Kruszyński, Diary 15, fol. 4781–4782). Ultimately, the study portrays Lublin as a space caught between two totalitarian systems and highlights Kruszyński’s diaries as a unique testimony to the extreme human and national experience of that period.
Keywords:
Fr. Józef Kruszyński, ego‑documents, Lublin in 1944–1945, communist authorities, Nazi occupation, sites of national remembranceDetails
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