COURAGE

savienojot kolekcijas

Tymoteusz Onyszkiewicz claimed that the most important artefacts from the Fuck 89 Collection are photographs of youth demonstrations from 1988 and 1989. He argued that mass demonstrations that occurred one after another in two-three weeks period were essential for the anarchist movement in the late 1980s. Anarchists, socialists, punks, Rastafarians, pacifists, ecologists, and other alternative youth groups used to regularly gather together in the streets of Warsaw to manifest their disagreement with the state policy and socio-economic situation in Poland. What they showed was also the solidarity among different groups of young people, when the whole movement fought for rights of small parts of itself. Exemplification of this united fight of the youth opposition is given by unique photography which captured one of the demonstrations demanding the legalization of Independent Students’ Union (ISU) in 1988. The photo shows a mob of people with flags and banners of ISU as well as anarchistic, marching through Krakowskie Przedmieście street nearby university’s gate, in spite of ideological differences between liberal-democratic ISU and radical anarchists and socialists. The author of the picture is unknown, but the message about the solidarity of rebellious youth movement is very clear.

In 1968, Zaborskaitė finished and published her book about the life and work of the Lithuanian poet Maironis. She presented it for her doctorate. During her speech, she acknowledged that the idea to write a book had come to her in the 1950s, and the book was written in 1958-1961 (see Stonytė V., Ir aš ją pažinojau...Atsiminimai apie Vandą Zaborskaitę [I Used to Know Her. Memories of Vanda Zaborskaitė], 2016, Vilnius: Lietuvos rašytojų sąjungos leidykla, p. 503). Nevertheless, due to the political situation and the regime's attitudes towards the Department of Lithuanian Language and Literature at Vilnius University, Zaborskaitė not only could not publish her book on Maironis, but was also dismissed from her position as lecturer (in 1961).

The poem “Poslední růže” (“The Last Rose”) from the collection Dům Strach (House of Fear) was written by Jan Zahradníček during his time in Pankrác Prison in the early 1950s. The manuscript of this poem was hidden by Václav Sisel , a guard and technical chief in the Pankrác Prison print shop. This manuscript finally became part of the Jan Zahradníček Collection at the Museum of Czech Literature in 1968. The poem depicts a real event: Václav Sisel, in accordance with Jan Zahradníčekʼs request, gave a rose from the prison garden to Antonín Ludvík Stříž, the canon of the Royal Collegiate Chapter of St. Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad. The rose, which grew and bloomed before prisonersʼ eyes, was then put on the main altar of the Vyšehrad cathedral.

“The Book of Mařenice” (Mařenická kniha) was published as a samizdat in 1977. It includes texts by Pavel Zajíček, Czech poet, musician, artist and leading figure of the Czech underground. These texts (diary notes, personal comments, reflexions, poetry, lyrics) were written in the first half of the 1970s, during Zajíček’s stay in the village of Mařenice in Northern Bohemia. Only one copy of “The Book of Mařenice” was published. This unique exemplar with its original visual concept is currently part of the Libri Prohibiti collection.

In the view of historian Myroslava Mudrak, “Tabirne” (Billiards) is “an exercise in ironic expression.” “Through pastel tones (usually employed by the symbolists who would describe ethereal themes, suspended dream-like situations, somewhat out of touch with the concrete vividness of reality, where saturated primaries and secondary hues would be used), which tend to create a mood of warmth and intimacy, we have the epitome of the grotesque and decadent (another feature of symbolist art).  Typical of this approach is the existential moment—the questioning of “who am I?” “where am I going?” “what’s next for me?” “how did I get here?"  Not only are the incarcerated (in the background) facing the agony of this questioning, but even the Cheka members are put in a situation, which is somewhat out of character with their role.  In a brief, relaxational moment, they seem to let down their guard to feel the weight of their charge lifted momentarily, yet at the same time, still carrying on, making the viewer aware of the horrible and deadly nature of that charge, visible at the end of their sticks.“