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    Published: 2026-06-29
    Vol. 74 No. 1 (2026)

    „We are resilient to everything, even the cold”. Methods of obtaining and using fuel by the rural population in the interwar period (based on examples from central and southern Poland)

    Szymon Grygiel
    The Quarterly of the History of Material Culture
    Section: Studies and Materials
    DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM74.2026.1.003

    Abstract

    The aim of the article is to identify and characterize the methods of obtaining and using fuel among the peasant in the interwar period, with particular emphasis on the years of the Great Depression. The study is based on an analysis of sources such as personal diaries, village monographs, and contemporary journalistic and scholarly literature. This allowed us to outline a whole range of practices adopted in response to winter conditions: from the most desirable, such as heating homes with wood and peat, through less desirable but acceptable solutions, including the use of various substitute fuels (pine needles, cones, dried stems, etc.) to those considered a last resort, such as dismantling one’s own fence. Special attention is given to the issue of wood theft, with a focus on its cultural and social determinants.

    Keywords:

    rural everyday life, Great Depression, fuel, heating, winter, peasant

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    Citation rules

    Grygiel, S. (2026). „We are resilient to everything, even the cold”. Methods of obtaining and using fuel by the rural population in the interwar period (based on examples from central and southern Poland). The Quarterly of the History of Material Culture, 74(1), 61–83. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM74.2026.1.003

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