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After a century and a half of partition, Poland was reborn in the autumn of 1918, though its geopolitical and economic situ- ation remained precarious. On the one hand, there were armed conflicts during which the new borders of the Republic were being shaped, and on the other hand, the economy of the young state was plagued by an economic depression that undermined the foundations of its existence. It took several years to recover from the crises. The main difficulty that successive governments had to face was the need to integrate the three different fiscal and economic systems and policies that had been inherited from the partitioning states: the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and Czarist Russia. It is noteworthy that in the early 1920s two courses of recovery from economic depression were contemplated. The first (“the German course”) was based on the introduction of a new currency with extensive support for the economy with international loans. The second, called “the Austrian course,” relied solely on bolstering the economy with foreign loans. In the end, the Poles, under the leadership of Prime Minister and Treasury Minister Władysław Grabski, chose a third path: their own. It consisted of, in particular, a rapid collection of property tax, a sweeping currency reform, increasing the profitability of state monopolies, and implementing audits of public spend- ing. All of these measures, which underwent regular modifi- cations, yielded reasonably favorable socio-economic results. Their consequence was a long, arduous but steady recovery of Poland from the post-war economic slump.

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The paper focuses on the strengths and weaknesses of the interwar Czechoslovakian economy. These included the readiness for the transition to an independent economy, the different economic levels of different parts of the new state, the elimination of transport “handicaps” of the new state by peace treaties, foreign trade policy, interwar economic development and the economic place of Czechoslovakia in Europe and the world. Although Czechoslovakia did not replace the importance of Vienna in terms of stock exchange and insurance, or Berlin’s position in terms of economics and transport, and failed to establish itself permanently in the Balkans, it proved its economic viability during its historically defined existence and did not become a destabilising factor in Central European or European economies.

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The article reviews the economic development of Eastern Galicia between the two World Wars. The organization and main branches of the economy are analyzed. The study method was based on the principles of historical science, logic, scientific objectivity in the evaluation of the past and a critical approach towards the available sources and historiography.

As a result of the warfare in 1914–1921, Eastern Galicia suffered great destruction. After the war, it had to rebuild its economy and adapt to the needs of the new state. The region’s entrepreneurs almost lost contact with companies from other parts of the former Austria-Hungary: trade with the East decreased. The policy of the central government limited the economic opportunities of Eastern Galicia.

The region’s economy was dominated by agriculture. For the majority of Ukrainian farmers who lacked land, a land reform was the most important issue. However, the unwillingness of the Polish authorities to solve the agrarian problems of Ukrainians led to conflicts. The only possible way for Galician farmers to use economic opportunities was through cooperation, which was successfully developing.

However, Eastern Galicia was not only an agrarian region of the inter-war Poland. It was a hub for important branches of the country’s industry. Significant war damage and the instability of Polish finances until the mid-1920s hindered its development, though. Only in 1928 did the industry reach its prewar levels. A year later, the global economic crisis leveled the previous achievements.

Before the war, the most important industries were dominated by entrepreneurs from Austria and Germany. After the revival of Poland, it was impossible to leave this state of affairs as it was. For example, in the oil industry, French capital replaced German and Austrian capital. The development of industry in eastern Galicia was also hampered by the lack of a clear state policy and the lack of a real organization of individual industries.

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Until 1918, Bessarabia was a guberniya of Russia and had the development specific of a periphery. On the one hand, this resulted in the lack of an economic dynamic in the region, and on the other hand, it ensured a climate of stability and a moderate growth in certain branches of the light industry. The neighbouring areas, on the left bank of the Dniester River, with the exception of the port city of Odessa, were even more autarchical than Bessarabia. The Union of March 1918 brought Bessarabia in an entirely new economic situation. Compared to the other Romanian provinces (Banat, Bukovina, Western Moldavia, Greater Wallachia and Transylvania) it  was  the least industrialised and developed. Furthermore, the Eastern “wall”-border – with the emerging Bolshevik state – led to the loss of access to the Eastern market for the agricultural products and food industry of Bessarabia. There only existed some contraband channels which functioned intermittently. The climate in Bessarabia was not favourable to investments, in the context of constant rumours of a possible Soviet invasion.

Bessarabian economists worked to find solutions in the new conditions. They mainly insisted on the export of grapes, wines, nuts, dried fruit, furs, etc. One of the priority destinations was the Polish market. As a result of the different views of the Polish and Romanian political classes, the market share of Bessarabian products went down after 1926. Regarding imports, there was a competition between Germany, Poland and Czechoslovakia. The Bessarabian market was used as a testing ground for different marketing strategies, mostly for agricultural technology, footwear, ceramic, perfumes, fertilisers, fish, etc. In the second half of the 1920s, Poland and the port of Danzing (Gdańsk), Czechoslovakia and Austria were the largest importers. The main destinations of Bessarabian export were Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Great Britain. The present work outlines the appraisals and perspectives reflected in the Bessarabian economics journals in the interwar period.

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The aim of the scientific article “Identity at the Crossroads of Cultures: The Case of the Bilingual Writer Juozapas Albinas Herbaiiauskas” is to analyse, based on empirical and theoretical research methods, the phenomenon of dual identity in the context of the development of nation-states in the first-half of the 20th century, which is determined by historical, cultural and community-related circumstances. The life of the bilingual Lithuanian-Polish, Polish-Lithuanian writer, cultural, public and political figure Juozapas Albinas Herbaiiauskas (Jozef Albin Herbaczewski), the drama and consequences of his identity choices in the context of the very difficult period of Lithuanian-Polish relations is the specific case chosen for such an analysis.

The Union of Lublin, signed in July 1569, created a unique political entity in Europe at that time – the united Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The original model of the union provided that Lithuanians and Poles would live in the union on equal terms.

Despite its troubles, this political entity gave Europe its first written constitution and, in the long term, was partly responsible for the formation of a specific cultural and social position known as “Gente Lituanus, natione Polonus” (“Lithuanian by descent, Polish by nationality”). It became common to have a kind of dual identity – Lithuanian-Polish, Polish-Lithuanian.

However, a few centuries later, the above-mentioned position inherited from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth turned into a problem: perhaps because the political model was only partially successful, the situation changed with the start of the active formation of nation-states. Tensions over borders, territories and geopolitical ambitions led to the need for a clear individual choice. A clearly expressed national identity, including the use of the specific language (Lithuanian or Polish), became an essential indicator of this. Meanwhile, partly due to the influence of the old heritage of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from a socio-cultural point of view, there was still a relatively large number of mixed Lithuanian-Polish and Polish-Lithuanian families in Lithuania and Poland.

One of the more exceptional cases in this context is that of two brothers, Boleslovas and Juozapas Albinas Herbaiiauskas, who were born in the same family of a Polish father and a Lithuanian mother in the second half of the 19th century, but who chose different identities.

Boleslovas Herbaiiauskas (Bolesław Herbaczewski) chose a Polish identity. Juozapas Albinas Herbaiiauskas had a more Lithuanian identity. This bilingual Lithuanian-Polish, Polish-Lithuanian writer, cultural figure, promoter of the Lithuanian National Revival, the first lecturer in Lithuanian in the history of the Jagiellonian University in Poland, translator and publicist was one of the brightest and most colourful personalities in Kraków and interwar Kaunas of the early 20th century. His biography, the specifics of his activities, his polemics with his contemporaries, and the challenges he faced in his efforts to merge and preserve both Lithuanian and Polish identities in the context of the tense relations between Lithuania and Poland provide the researcher with a rewarding opportunity to shed light on the extremely complex and multidimensional era of the development of and relations between the Lithuanian and Polish states through the history of one person and his dramatic choices.

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The article Undoing Culture: Witkacy’s Tragedy of the End of the West looks at Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz’s historiosophical conception of the condition of Western culture in the first half of the 20th century. The reading of the Polish artist’s literary works – dramas, novels as well as his philosophical and aesthetic treatises and journalistic writings – runs parallel to the reading of works by contemporary thinkers, economists, political scientists and sociologists. This juxtaposition makes Witkacy’s observations, diagnoses and visions more relevant. They thus become an important tool for understanding the phenomena occurring in the world around us. They are also extremely helpful in studying modernity as such. One of them is the concept of the undoing of culture that is repeatedly considered by the characters in Witkiewicz’s works. As a caricatured embodiment of totalitarian ideas, it is an important point of reference for reflecting on the events of the past century, the effects of which are still being felt today. Witkacy took a keen interest in the condition of the West as a civilizational formation. He was convinced of its decline. The undoing of culture is supposed to delay it, while being one of the signs of the impending and ultimate catastrophe. It will be a strange tragedy. For as a result of it, people will achieve the happiness they have dreamed of since the dawn of time. They will, however, cease to be human. And this is what Witkiewicz feared most.

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In this study, the author attempts to portray Czech interwar literature, i.e., the period from the beginning of the independent republic to its demise in September 1938 (the signing of the so-called Munich Agreement). He focuses on some necessary political and cultural-historical issues, such as the end of the “Great War”, the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, and the establishment of an independent republic. However, he pays the most attention to the form of literature (prose, poetry, and drama). In conclusion, he notes that literary life significantly diversified and branched out over the two decades. The system of literature deepened in terms of material and genre, but also in terms of ideological and ideological direction. While initially, literature and literary life were quite centralist (just like the original Austro-Hungarian Empire with its bureaucratic apparatus), over time there is a more pronounced differentiation and the emergence of new cultural centers, usually associated with larger cities. He recalls great literary figures (K. Čapek, J. Hašek, etc.) as well as authors from the circle of German-written works.

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The article reconstructs Hryhoriy Mayfet’s theory of the novella, which he presented in his two-volume work The Nature of the Novella (1928–1929). The Ukrainian scholar’s theoretical suggestions fit into the general context of German and American literary critics’ search for the key features of the novella genre. The article also reveals the history of the controversy over Mayfet’s book in the Ukrainian literary process of the late 1920s and early 1930s, which took place between Volodymyr Derzhavyn, Felix Yakubovsky, and the critics of New Generation. This discussion, which lasted almost four years, demonstrates how ideological control was increasing in Ukrainian literary criticism in the early 1930s.

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Between 1932–1937, books in Romanian language and Latin script were printed in Tiraspol and Balta, in the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova /the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (aSSRM). New literature emerged, mostly produced by radically left-wing émigré Romanian intellectuals, and by a young generation of writers from the villages with Moldovan population. Previously, during the tsarist period, there were no publications in Romanian or institutions operating in this language. In our opinion, the literature of the aSSRM belongs to no one. Most authors were tried and murdered during the cruel purges of 1937–1938 (S. Lehtțir, D. Milev, L. Madan, P. Chior, N. Cabac and many others whose actual names are unknown). Some of the most fortunate were able to flee, others survived either because they were tolerated by the regime or for other unknown reasons (I. Canna, I.D. Ciobanu, L. Cornfeld, V. Galit, M. Oprea).

Literary activity was centered around the journal “Octeabriu” which became “Octombrie” (“October”) in 1932. The books issued were edited by employees of the State Publishing House of Moldova, which had two printing houses in Balta and Tiraspol (the latter gained most importance after 1936).

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The article outlines the stages of the history preparing an edition of Ivan Franko’s works in 25 volumes by systematizing literary studies and studying archive sources. The events are described in organic connection with historical and socio-political circumstances, which made it possible to show the meanders of Franko’s legacy reaching his readers. Some of the unknown documents are introduced into scientific circulation. The research methods of choice were textual and source analysis and synthesis. The use of these tools made it possible to establish little-known facts about the history of the collected works, trace the announcement of the contents of the individual volumes in the press, analyze the obstacles encountered, and find out the reasons for the sudden collapse of this publishing initiative.

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Can any connection be justly postulated between re-education according to the views of Anton Makarenko (1888–1939), a Soviet and Ukrainian educational theorist, and the “re-education” of political detainees in the Pitești prison in Romania (1949–1952)? How did Makarenko come to be regarded as the “father of Pitești re-education”, as well as a “criminal Bolshevik educator”? His major work, the famous Pedagogical Poem, was published in 1933 in the uSSR, and the first translations of Anton Makarenko’s writings into Romanian were published in 1949 and 1950, while “re-education” was in full swing, and we do not doubt either the recollections of the survivors, or the fact that Makarenko’s work was recommended for reading in several prisons. The present study compares Makarenko’s  work,  more  precisely the particulars of “re-education” according to him, with the main elements of the truly criminal experiment at Pitești. To ascertain the truth, we follow the biography of the educator, his complex relationship with the Soviet secret services, and the main aspects of the re-education process apud Makarenko. Although there are certain common elements between the two types of “re-education”, the Soviet educator does not bear the blame for the atrocities of Pitești prison.

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The present study aims to explore the similarities between the novels Lunga călătorie a prizonierului (Prisoner’s Long Journey, 1971) by Sorin Titel and Grobnica za Borisa Davidoviča (A Tomb for Boris Davidovich, 1976) by Danilo Kiš. Both Central European writers, Titel (Romanian) and Kiš (a Serbian, born to a Jewish father and a Montenegrin mother) experienced the same traumas, stemming from their living  through  a  nightmarish  history and struggling to pursue their literary careers in  countries under totalitarian regimes. Influenced by Samuel Beckett and Franz Kafka, while also learning from the contemporary French nouveau roman, Sorin Titel employs the well-known theme of travel in an allegorical novel apt to be made into a road movie – a journey with no beginning or end, enriched by means of myths and symbols, but offering neither revelation nor salvation to the traveler. Danilo Kiš takes a different approach: at first glance a collection of short stories, the stories included in A Tomb for Boris Davidovich enhance the information in the previous texts, adding new dimensions to the characters, accounting for their actions and impulses. At times, the omniscient narrator becomes an unreliable narrator, adding to the confusion, despite the exhaustive amassing of facts and data. Nevertheless, subtle affinities can be discovered in the common motifs of Titel’s and Kiš’s works: victims turned executioners and vice versa; imposture; desacralization; blood and slaughter. On the other hand, the most terrifying characters in A Tomb for Boris Davidovich are embodiments of a certain type of prisoners: trapped in amorality and in their own inability to evolve.