Mythologising, Ceremonies, Apotheoses: Piłsudski and the Legions in Cracow Theatre
Diana Poskuta-Włodek
The Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4665-0864
Abstract
Cracow theatre played a special part in the Polish ritual of passage from subjugation to independence in 1918 and soon became an object of intense mythologizing itself. Its origins can be traced back to the premieres of Polish Romantic theatre staged in Cracow and the influence exerted by Stanisław Wyspiański who used the language of myths and the symbolism of remnants, being also a deconstructivist who redefined the dominant tropes, legends, and symbols of his time. When there was a need to create new myths at the time of building the Second Polish Republic, Wyspiański and the Romantics provided the inspiration as well. The legend of Józef Piłsudski as the national saviour and the myth of “holly” Legions became key ingredients of the new narrative. The article describes how they functioned in the Cracow theatre until the outbreak of the Second World War. Piłsudski was fashioned to be the new “Spirit King” from the Król-Duch poem by Słowacki and the new Konrad from Mickiewicz’s Dziady (Forefathers Eve) and Wyspiański’s Wyzwolenie (Liberation). The process of mythologizing, which intensified after the coup in May 1926, spread all over town, and all over the country, taking over public emotions and public spaces to celebrate Piłsudski and the Legions in great public performances. The burial of Słowacki’s remains, brought over from France to be interred in the Wawel Cathedral, and then the monumental funeral of Piłsudski where a similar rite was observed served the same mythologizing purpose. The last event of this kind was a monumental outdoor staging of Hymn na cześć oręża polskiego (A Hymn to the Polish Armed Forces) by Ludwik Hieronim Morstin at the Wawel Castle in August 1939. The three performances froze historical time, as it were, turning it into a cyclic funerary ritual and holiday.
Keywords:
1918, Poland's independence, theatre and politics, Józef Piłsudski, theatre in Cracow, Polish theatre historyReferences
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Authors
Diana Poskuta-WłodekThe Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4665-0864
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