BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//PUNO - ECPv6.16.2//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://puno.ac.uk
X-WR-CALDESC:Wydarzenia dla PUNO
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:UTC
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:+0000
TZOFFSETTO:+0000
TZNAME:UTC
DTSTART:20240101T000000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=UTC:20250416T183000
DTEND;TZID=UTC:20250416T193000
DTSTAMP:20260525T182754
CREATED:20250406T185401Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250406T185401Z
UID:8937-1744828200-1744831800@puno.ac.uk
SUMMARY:Polish History Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Dear all\,\n\n\nThe next PUNO history seminar will take place on 16th April starting at 6.30pm (UK time). See below for details.\n\n\n16 April 2025              Prof Piotr Osęka (Institute of Political Studies of Polish Academy of Sciences\, Warsaw)\n\n„You were not supposed to ask that question”. Autobiographical memory of agents of the communist security apparatus in Poland.\n\nOral history has in recent years become one of the basic tools in the study of social history or the history of the anti-communist opposition. At the same time\, this methodology is practically absent in the narrative on the functioning of the security apparatus. The presentation will be aimed at filling this gap. I’m going to present findings from anonymous biographical interviews with former secret police agents. I have conducted several dozens of interviews with former high-ranking officers of the Security Service; the political police in communist Poland. These were hours-long talks\, focused on their career paths; I asked about the motives that drove them to join the service; the investigative method they employed; their daily routine\, and details of the police job. Almost all my interviewees were involved in cracking down on the dissident movement in the ’70s and ’80s\, the policing activity usually associated with intimidations\, blackmails\, beatings\, and even assassinations. The paper will focus on presenting the main narrative strategies used by former officers in making sense of their biographies – professionalization\, determinism\, and denial.\n\nPiotr Osęka is a historian\, professor at the Institute of Political Studies of Polish Academy of Sciences. He has published several books and numerous articles on the history of communist Poland\, totalitarian propaganda\, proposopography\, and the anthropology of secret police– both in academic journals and Polish broadsheets. His recent publications include ‘“Secret Services Are Meant To Serve”: State Violence in the Autobiographic Memory of Secret Police Officers in Communist Poland’ in East European Politics and Societies (online) and ‘The Elites of Solidarity: Prosopography of Delegates for the First National Congress of Solidarity’ in East European Politics and Societies\, 35(4)\, 1195–1216.\n\nTo register / join the seminar go to:\nhttps://www.tickettailor.com/events/polishuniversityabroadpuno\n\nhttps://us06web.zoom.us/j/81026291004?pwd=s8WteS75LxezbevDFvs1A4uMem0CYa.1
URL:https://puno.ac.uk/puno-event/polish-history-seminar-2/
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR