Published: 2023-12-20

The folklore of Nowa Huta and the new city of Tychy in the 1950s

Dr Maria Wąchała-Skindzier , Dr Patryk Oczko
Journal of Urban Ethnology
Section: Articles
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE21.2023.006

Abstract

Nowa Huta and the new city of Tychy (i.e., the expansion of the Silesian city by communist authorities) were designed shortly after the official adoption of the socialist realist doctrine and were both intended to be model socialist cities. These communities, however, were not built in cruda radice. They share the origin myth of the new man and the dominant role of the proletariat derived from Stalinist doctrine. In both cases, their original cultural heritage was questioned. This article discusses the pre-industrial legacy within the context of the category of folklore as well as the second wave of postwar migration related to the major
investments of the Six-Year Plan and the upward social mobility of rural folk who became urban dwellers. A third category, that of the socialist realist category of folklore, and its traces which are evident, for instance, in place names, is also of crucial importance. A comparison of Nowa Huta and Tychy emphatically demonstrates how the narratives imposed by the socialist state diversified under the influence of the original context and the broad spectrum of individual factors. The resulting image underscores the uniqueness of the challenging legacy of material and non-material culture of two urban communities that were comprehensively implemented after 1945.

Keywords:

folklore, Nowa Huta, New Tychy, socialist realism, folk culture, the People's Republic of Poland, 1950s

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Wąchała-Skindzier, M., & Oczko, P. (2023). The folklore of Nowa Huta and the new city of Tychy in the 1950s. Journal of Urban Ethnology, 21, 103–124. https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE21.2023.006

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