The article presents an iconographic and ideological study of Julia Maesa’s denarius with the legend VENVS VICTRIX from the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The analysis was carried out in the context of the use of the image of the goddess Venus in the self-presentation of women from the Severan dynasty. The denarius shows an attribution of the goddess almost identical to that on Caracalla’s coins, thanks to which Julia Maesa visually emphasized her closeness to her nephew, and thus legitimized the rights to the imperial throne of both her grandsons.

The years 1782–1784 were a period of special interest of Kazimierz N. Sapieha in Lublin sejmiks, which was related to his marriage to Anna née Cetner. Living in Lubartów, the Lithuanian artillery general had the opportunity to influence the local sejmiks in Lublin, which contributed to strengthening the influence of the magnate opposition. This was visible at the deputation and parliamentary sejmiks in 1782. The preparations for the pre-sejm sejmik and its course were reconstructed on the basis of correspondence, as neither the resolution nor the parliamentary instructions have survived. In 1783, the activity of the opposition decreased, thanks to which the regalists succeeded in electing a deputy to the Crown Tribunal. K. Sapieha’s attempt to gain advantage in Lublin Voivodeship in 1784 ended with the defeat of his supporters at the parliamentary sejmik. This year, the elections of the members of the Sejm were also controlled by the regalist party.

The article aims to demonstrate how politicians in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, as well as the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia, sought to influence secondary education to shape appropriate attitudes among students. Drawing on archival materials from Poland and Croatia, as well as relevant literature, I intend to show that the educational policies pursued by Zagreb and Lviv, despite certain differences, were remarkably similar. Both aimed at the same goal – the upbringing of loyal citizens devoted to the monarchy.

At the turn of the 20th century, almost a third of Croatian students studied at universities and technical colleges of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Croatian academic youth were in contact and cooperated with students of other, mostly Slavic nationalities. Their networking was usually motivated by the same ideological platform. The present paper aims to shed some light on the social connections of Croatian students studying in university centres like Vienna, Prague, and Graz, with their Slavic colleagues (Slovenian, Czech, Serb, Bulgarian, Polish, Ruthenian, and Slovak students) based on the data from the private sources and articles from contemporary student journals.

The article deals with the impact of the changes in the border between Poland and Slovakia at the end of the 1930s on the population of the affected parts of Spiš, Orava and Kysuce. It traces the international political situation which weakened the position of the Czechoslovak Republic and its internal political problems. It analyses complicated Slovak-Polish relations, which superficially looked friendly, but, eventually deteriorated considerably as a result of the occupation of parts of Spiš, Orava and Kysuce by Poland in autumn 1938 and Slovakia’s passage into the sphere of influence of Nazi Germany in 1939. The consequences of the ‘big politics’ had a considerable impact on everyday life in the affected border area. The paper traces how the consequences were particularly reflected, from the border shift itself to the reactions of the population, availability of basic foodstuffs, lack of transport connections, and the issue of the language teaching or the language of the church to security during the wartime conflict.

The article, which is the result of the query in the Archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim, attempts to outline an image of the father, Władysław Michejda, based on Barbara Michejda-Pinno’s report. The report, which was written in 2000, arouses interest for several reasons: it reveals the private image of one of the lawyers most distinguished for the affairs of the Evangelical Church in Silesia, it builds the definition of patriotism understood as dedicated service and work for the local community, and it takes the form of articulated observations and examinations made from the perspective of several decades. Barbara Michejda-Pinno’s comments are not intended to build a monument to her father, but to remind us of this Silesian patriot. The article is based on a narratological reconstruction of Michejda’s biography using the analysis of memoir discourse and textual analysis of ego-documents. One of its goals is to initially recognize the possibilities and credibility of the patriotic discourse itself, emerging from personal family documents, full of nostalgia, but also resentment.

The article discusses the transformations of the Ukrainian community of Jehovah's Witnesses underwent after the deportation operation "North" (or "Triika") in 1951-1955, using the example of the religious community of the Lviv region of the Ukrainian SSR. The structural changes that occurred after the deportation of the majority of believers' families to the north-east of the Soviet Union and the arrests of men who performed leadership and worship functions in the denomination led to changes in religious practices, the complication of community leadership and the printing business, reduced the scope of work, but did not stop the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses in the region. The studied archival documents of the MGB and the KGB notify about special operations, plans and state measures to combat the religious underground of Jehovah's Witnesses, agent work, attempts to justify and baselessness of the repressive policy of the Soviet totalitarian regime. As a result of the eviction, the Jehovah's Witnesses denomination did not disappear in the Lviv region, and the plan to intercept the leadership of the community failed. Followers of the religious group managed to independently organize and develop survival strategies in underground conditions.

In 1957, intra-party discussions in the PUWP ended, and the party leadership focused on integrating the organization around the doctrine established in October 1956. The party’s central authorities began to fight activists questioning the new “party line” – dogmatists attacking it as departing from communism, and revisionists expecting further reforms. In the fall of 1957, the PUWP leadership also decided to conduct a campaign against activists in conflict with the law, corruption and demoralization. A general verification of members according to ideological and moral criteria began. The verification campaign lasted until the first months of 1958 and ended with the removal of less than 20 percent from the PUWP members. In Katowice Voivodeship, the purge lasted the longest, and, as a result, over 30,000 people left the party, i.e. over 20 percent of the members. The data indicate that less than 10 percent of activists were deprived of their ID for ideological reasons, and just over 3 percent were in conflict with the law. The highest percentage of those removed from the ranks – almost 72 percent, were passive members or removed at their own request.

Ukraine’s active involvement in the creation of architecture of European security, notably in the renunciation of its nuclear weapons arsenal and positive signals regarding the matter of the NATO expansion on the East, had a great significance for Ukrainian-Polish relations. Since the mid-1990s of the 20th century, Poland has started positioning its relations with Ukraine within the context of them being a counterbalance to Russia’s political pressure. Polish authorities have supported Ukrainian initiatives to join the Euro-Atlantic institutions, their cooperation in the political and military-technical fields within the Ukrainian–NATO line, and the formation of a strategy for Ukraine receiving a plan of actions for becoming a member of the Alliance. At the same time, inconsistency of views of the Ukrainian ruling elite, deviation from democratic standards, uncertainty and constant change of key foreign policy orientations of Ukraine, as well as unfavorable geopolitical conditions, have severely slowed down the process of Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine.

The review article discusses the structure and selected content of the book written by the British historian Jeremy Black entitled Krótka historia wojny published in 2022 by RM publishing house. The reviewed work is an original approach to issues related to waging wars in the world from the dawn of humanity to the present day. Despite the relatively small volume, the author logically and reliably presented the process of changes in the way they are carried out from a global perspective, formulating observations and conclusions as to their causes and characteristic features.