Suchergebnisse

The article focuses on the issue of the influence of the historical conditions on the Polish-Russian relations at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The history of these two countries is linked by a long-lasting and difficult past, and thus numerous unresolved disputes, burdens, and myths arose that have been felt to this day. In 1989, after the fall of the Communist system in our country, new political elites managing the process of democratic changes in the Third Polish Republic made efforts that aimed at settling disputed threads from the common Polish-Russian history. On the way to making up for the past, the period between 1989 and 2007 was marked by a number of important events that could be seen as the symbol of the common reconciliation. Unfortunately, there were also moments of regression and deep crisis that negatively affected the cooperation of both countries in the matter of dealing with difficult cards of the common history. This was influenced by a different approach to the past that is understood differently in Poland and in Russia and that contributed to the emergence of numerous misunderstandings, as well as to the mutual accusations in this field.

The subject matter of the article is inscribed in a broad current of research on the economic history and civilisational changes in the Prussian Partition in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The aim of the study is to analyse the economic situation and the level and characteristics of industrialisation in six towns with poviat (districts) rights located within the Prussian Partition: Bydgoszcz, Elbląg, Gdańsk, Grudziądz, Poznań, Toruń. This analysis is based on the exploration of two Prussian censuses of 12 June 1907: the Berufszählungen occupational census and the Betriebszählungen industrial/business census. Selected census data are presented in the form of tables and a graph. Employment in non-agricultural divisions and branches of the national economy is presented, including the 5 most numerous in terms of the number of employed workers. The structure of the working population in the main occupation is also presented, including for the 5 occupations with the highest employment. For the six urban poviats (districts), the importance of crafts and the small-scale nature of industry was observed. The cities most significant in terms of industrialisation processes were Gdańsk and Poznań, but also Elbląg. Each city had its own characteristics in terms of economic conditions and development. It can be concluded that industrialisation was one of the most important, though not the only, factor for the cities in question (economic factor). Despite the fact that the authorities of the Second Reich took good care of the civilisational progress of the Prussian Partition, the backwardness of this area in terms of development processes was still visible.