Ziemie ukraińskie w publicystyce Zygmunta Glogera

Abstract

The main purpose of the article is to find an answer to a seemingly banal question: “Where is and what is Ukraine?” It needs to be noted that the question itself hides a possible answer. After all, one can ask similar questions about Little Russia, Kievan Rus, or the Ukrainian parts of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. All these terms (as key words) appear in Gloger’s writings, and each is used deliberately in historical, cultural, legal and political contexts. Zygmunt Gloger (1845–1910), a professional historian, ethnographer and archeologist, assumed all these perspectives to see former regions of Poland as a whole unit. He perceived their diversity, which is reflected in his writings, but did not need the necessity to multiply political entities rooted in that territory. He used the terms related to the contemporary area of Ukraine as they were employed in the Polish historical scholarship at the time. He interpreted the occurrence of the conflict between Poland and Ukraine at the turn of the century as lack of sufficient historical knowledge, on the one hand, and the plot of the annexationists. Turned into the past, Gloger was outstandingly modern in his views on economic issues, observing analyzing trends.