Patriotism according to the students of UPJPII in Kraków on the basis of a survey concerning the attitudes of Matejko, Sienkiewicz and Witkacy in the period of partitions

Abstract

The author of the paper, a theologian, in a survey conducted largely among believer students of the Pontifical University of John Paul II in Krakow, asked them whether patriotism is an anachronism or a necessity today. The research method consisted in analyzing representative answers of the respondents, which were obtained after acquainting them (the possibility of using the Internet while answering) with the profiles of three great Poles-patriots of the Partition period (1772–1795) who fought for their homeland with a brush and pen as well as up front in military operations, though on the wrong side from today’s historical perspective: Jan Matejko (1838–1893), Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846–1916), Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz – Witkacy (1885–1939).