Chapter 2 - “We Have Always Been in Europe”: Deploying the Past to Shape the Present

Summary

Bartek: Historical Consciousness in the Twenty-First Century

When we met in 1992, Bartek was in the academically demanding science track at the lyceum in Lesko.1 He was not an especially motivated student, but he loved to explore the outdoors and dreamed of becoming a mountain tour guide one day. In the interview I recorded in 2005, he invoked national history to explain Polish identity and Polish responses to structural and ideological changes associated with European integration. Still, he made it clear that he was far more interested in the history of the Bieszczady region than in Polish, European or world history:

A lot has changed since high school, that's for sure. I had a hard time getting into university. Right after finishing lyceum, I tried to study geography, but I didn't get in. Then, I got into a chemistry program, and even though it was really hard I did well my first semester. It's just that I lived in the dorm with guys studying physical education and I decided that's what I would rather do. So I quit and waited a year and I passed the exams to study physical education. You can say I was a year behind, but I'm still satisfied with what I did.

I didn't have a hard time finding a job in Lesko. My parents are teachers so I grew up in a teaching environment. But maybe that has nothing to do with it; when I finished university, schools were hiring because of a baby boom. I know it would be harder now because there are a lot fewer children.

I definitely think things have gotten better in Poland … but it's hard for me to say because essentially I don't know if it was good or bad in the 1970s during what's called communism. You'd have to ask my parents. But I definitely can say that things are better for me because I have a job, my wife has a job. And like I've told you, I also became a tour guide. I know that if things turn bad, I still have an arrangement with the tourist agency and they'll use me even on weekends or vacations, which gives me a solid opportunity to earn money.