During this year’s annual Gen. Walter Jajko Kosciuszko Chair Military Lecture, Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz discussed the various ways in which the underground anti-communist insurgency in Poland fought against Communist forces in the wake of the Second World War, and in later years against the Nazi Germans and Soviet Communists.
Dr. Chodakiewicz highlighted the response strategy used by the Communist Party, most notably the anti-insurgent communist deception and propaganda, an example of which was Andrzej Wajda’s anti-Home-Army film called Ashes and Diamonds (1958). The film was screened after the professor’s talk.
To give historical context to the movie and reveal the true intentions behind the production of the film, which was commissioned by the Communist Party as a propaganda tool, Dr. Chodakiewicz discussed several means of propaganda used by the party. Using the words of Joseph Stalin, “The writer is the engineer of the human soul,” Dr. Chodakiewicz revealed the power of art and film and its ability to manipulate the human soul and mind when used accordingly.
This event was sponsored by the Kosciuszko Chair of Polish Studies, and took place on September 25, 2015.