Contemporary Polish patriotism: between the community and national regional community

Abstract

The 25th anniversary of the recovery of political sovereignty by Poland as a result of the collapse of communism in Europe passed in 2014. On this occasion, a whole series of studies, analyses, research was carried out which was aimed at seeking answers to the question of how the Polish public evaluates the passing of a quarter-century. The presented text is the result of research which is a part of this anniversary trend, the modern understanding of patriotism in general as well as regional patriotism. The research was conducted by the author in the autumn of 2013. The empirical material was collected through the Internet, which strongly placed the issue of representativeness of the results, however, due to the number of statements it can be the basis to formulate general conclusions about what is contemporary patriotism for the Poles. General conclusions are that patriotism also became practical, that is, the Poles are patriots when this is useful. Yet what other conclusion can be drawn is that the majority of respondents is a component of regional pride of patriotism in general. The exception is Upper Silesia, where local patriotism is next to national patriotism and the opposition it is often the latter. Yet another conclusion to be drawn in the light of the results obtained is that patriotism is changing its face in the martyrdom of patriotism actions and their effects according to the “principle of the deeds you shall know them.”