Doctoral Student Patryk Krupiński
Contact information
Patryk Krupiński, M.A.
Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Rynek Starego Miasta 31
00-272 Warszawa
Poland
Email addresses: p.s.krupinski@gmail.com
About
Patryk Krupiński is a PhD student at the Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences and member of Department of the History of Ideas and the history of the Intelligentsia in the 19th and 20th Centuries. He obtained a master's degree in history (2023) and a bachelor's degree in history (2021) – as a student of the Interdisciplinary Individual Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, and Philosophy (2024), at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
His previous historical research focused on the analysis of speeches and other parliamentary sources from the Polish interwar left. His bachelor’s thesis examined members of parliament from the Polish Socialist Party in the Legislative Sejm of 1919–1921. His master’s thesis analyzed communists, the radical left, and left-wing clubs of national minorities, treating them as a single group associated within the so-called Workers' and Peasants' Bloc. His philosophy thesis is an attempt to develop a non-speculative philosophy of history, grounded in reflections based on work with historical sources. Drawing inspiration from Étienne Balibar's „philosophy-in-history,“ this approach emerges at the intersection of Michel Foucault's genealogical method and Karl Marx's historical materialism.
Privately, he is an avid fan of post-punk music and a passionate enthusiast of fantasy RPG games of all kinds.
Research interests
- Political and social history of Central-East Europe
- Post-imperial spaces and order of Europe after 1918
- History politics and memory
- Political representation and participation, including a class perspective
- Philosophy of history, methodology of historiography
Doctoral project
Between Aggressor and Defender: Józef Piłsudski in Contemporary East-Central and Eastern European Discourses
PhD supervisor: PD Dr Ivan Sablin (Heidelberg University); auxiliary supervisor: Dr Piotr Kuligowski (Tadeusz Manteuffel Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences)
The dissertation project examines contemporary representations of Józef Piłsudski, a Polish statesman and one of the most significant figures of interwar Poland, across various discourses in Central and Eastern Europe, specifically in Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Russia. Piłsudski is a complex and ambiguous figure, evoking varied and often ambivalent opinions depending on the region, times, and social or political affiliations. A key focus of the research is on the diverse roles attributed to him—aggressor, ally, defender—which are invoked according to the political context and needs of the time.
The analysis begins in the 1980s, addressing both the official communist government perspective and the views of the emerging opposition. The period between 1989 and 1991 marks a critical turning point. The fall of censorship allows for a comprehensive reevaluation of Piłsudski’s legacy. The birth of new statehoods and the accompanying questions about national identity lead to analogous debates about Piłsudski’s identity, as well as his inclusion or exclusion from national community. European integration becomes a significant factor in the search for shared narratives and interpretations of his figure, emphasizing his “supranational” identity. This trend gains momentum following the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, which highlights Piłsudski’s role in the victory over the Bolshevik invasion. Simultaneously, this resurgence also intensifies negative portrayals of him as a Russophobe and a symbol of Polish hostility towards the "Russian world."
Ultimately, the PhD project aims to emphasize the ambiguities and the impossibility of definitively categorizing Piłsudski as either an aggressor or a defender, as well as to explore the fluidity of identities that his figure exemplifies. Piłsudski is closely associated with the national clashes of 1918–1920 in a region that, after more than a century, has once again become a theater of conflicts and disputes over national identity and territorial claims. In light of these challenges, the project seeks to examine how narratives about Piłsudski were and are constructed, how they are perpetuated, and how they come into conflict with one another. This analysis will provide a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of memory and historical politics, shedding light on how these narratives can simultaneously foster common understanding and fuel antagonism.