Mutual influences : Kunstschutz and the shaping of Polish art history at the time of the First World War
LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Jan Bułhak; Fotografija; Pirmas pasaulinis karas; Jan Bulhak; Photography; World War I.
ENIn her insightful article on Kunstschutz in the Warsaw General Government, Beate Störtkuhl noted that this impressive war-time project was often based on, and pursued with, the collaboration of local scholars and voluntary societies in this part of the Eastern Front.1 She referred in particular to salvage and reconstruction campaigns of single monuments and entire urban complexes as well as concerns about rural architecture, a key feature of the cultural landscape that was most vulnerable to military action. Interestingly, the collaboration mentioned above is very difficult to trace in the relevant written and published sources. On the one hand, the activity of both Polish and German art historians, architects and conservators on the Eastern Front is still hardly studied. On the other hand, neither Germans nor Poles generally mentioned such common undertakings. In this article, I will analyze more closely the nature of such German-Polish collaboration on the basis of four case studies. I will argue that it exerted a profound impact on Polish academic culture, which went well beyond the issues of war protection. By juxtaposing examples from both the Warsaw General Government and other administrative units established on former Polish territories by the Central Powers (the parts of “Ober Ost” and the Lublin General Government) with similar projects undertaken at the initiative of Polish voluntary societies on the opposite side of the front, I will present Kunstschutz as an influential, attractive and authoritative research practice. As this article focuses on a phenomenon that has hitherto largely escaped scholarly attention, it is merely intended to serve as a signpost to larger issues and problems. [Extract, p. 83]
