"Taka wolność gorsza od niewoli...". Rzeczywistość Polski Ludowej w świetle kilkunastu zapisów w Kronikach Klasztoru Jasnogórskiego z lat 1945-1958

Abstract

The monastery of Jasna Góra has stayed a religious and spiritual capital of the Polish although, it experienced several difficulties and persecution within the Polish People's Republic (PRL). The chronicles, written by the Paulites, present the Polish reality very honestly. Considering a possibility of searching, arresting, overhearing and denunciation, such unfavourable comments on the communist government, evidently hostile to the catholic church and Polish society, were really amazing. The chronicles show PRL as a country of numerous paradoxes, absurdities and unnatural relationships between the authority and the society. They also introduce successfully everyday life of the monastery: both troubles and satisfaction resulted from the constant interest of the pilgrims of various social classes, arriving from all parts of Poland. There were a lot od Polish emigrants as well. The Chronicles of Jasna Góra Monastery were written by different monks in these post - war years. So, perception of PRL reality is based on individual attitude of the writers. Nevertheless, their evaluation is almost the same. In the chronicles, we can find a hope for the better future. The chroniclers' hope came from the importance of religion in Poland. The Paulites were convinced that communism was a temporary phenomenon which was going to fail as the other misfortunes.