Published: 2026-06-30

Wartime non-fiction in the Polish People’s Republic – official expectations and the writing practice of Zbigniew Flisowski in his books on the battle of Westerplatte of 1939 and the Pomeranian offensive of 1945

Przemysław Benken
Echa Przeszłości
Section: ARTICLES
https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.12881

Abstract

The article analyzes the reflections on wartime non-fiction formulated by Zbigniew Flisowski (1924–1995), a renowned and widely read author writing on the history of World War II in the People's Republic of Poland, in the context of selected key themes of communist propaganda concerning Poland in 1939-1945. The analysis centers on the genesis and the writing process of two of Flisowski's most important works published before 1989: Westerplatte: wspomnienia, relacje, dokumenty (Westerplatte: Memoirs, Accounts, Documents, 1959) and Pomorze. Reportaż z pola walki (Pomerania: A Report from the Battlefield, 1973). The narrative of the heroic defense of the Military Transit Depot at Westerplatte in 1939 had already been exploited by communist propaganda during the war. In turn, the Pomeranian offensive of 1945 became a central motif of the officially endorsed Polish-Soviet "brotherhood in arms", and it was also an important element of the communist narrative that the Polish People's Army followed the historic "Piast trail" to establish Poland's western border on the Oder. The article not only highlights Flisowski's views on writing practice but also identifies the mechanisms by which his work had to be adapted to the social and political reality of the time in order to meet reader expectations as well as the requirements of the "institutional patrons" at the Ministry of National Defense.

Keywords:

Zbigniew Flisowski, non-fiction, communist propaganda, battle of Westerplatte (1939), Pomeranian campaign of 1945

Download files

Citation rules

Benken, P. (2026). Wartime non-fiction in the Polish People’s Republic – official expectations and the writing practice of Zbigniew Flisowski in his books on the battle of Westerplatte of 1939 and the Pomeranian offensive of 1945. Echa Przeszłości, (XXVII/1), 117–148. https://doi.org/10.31648/ep.12881

Cited by / Share

This website uses cookies for proper operation, in order to use the portal fully you must accept cookies.