Działalność propagandowa polskiego podziemia na Wileńszczyźnie w świetle zbiorów „bernardyńskich”

PROPAGANDA ACTIVITY OF THE POLISH SECRET STATE IN THE VILNIUS REGION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE “BERNARDINE” COLLECTIONS FROM THE YEARS 1939-1944 The so-called “Bernardine” Archives of the Home Army found in February 1995 in the Vilnius church of St. Francis of Assisi (Bernardine church) are an interesting source for the analysis of activities of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of the Home Army Vilnius District. The circumstances of finding the documents and their transfer to the state archives are also interesting. They were stolen and later transferred to the archives. The whole case was of particular interest to the Department of State Security. The documents that make up the “Bernardine” collection describe in detail the propaganda activity of the BIP [Bureau for Information and Propaganda] in the Vilnius District of the Home Army. Propaganda activity can be classified into several levels, according to its impact, its methods and effects. Low (micro) level propaganda is not very effective. At the micro level, momentary feelings are evoked in the recipient by one-off prints or short-term manifestations. Meso-level propaganda is of regular character. At this stage, the communicated content is prepared by specialists working in the institution responsible for the consistency of the communicated content and its dissemination. Large-scale propaganda activities can be described as propaganda at the macro level, aiming to change the behaviour of society. Propaganda at this level can be described as total propaganda. Here, messages are broadcast by various media and various institutions. This type of categorisation of propaganda makes it easier to present the communication and information activities of the Polish resistance movement. The article describes in detail the circumstances of finding, theft and return of Home Army documents. Using the example of the “Bernardine” collection, the ideas of the Polish-Lithuanian federation that appeared in the announcements of the Home Army BIP of the Vilnius District are analysed in detail. Two types of communication dominate in the analysed documents of the “Bernardine” collections. The first is “federalist” communication, according to which both states and nations would have equal rights and influence. The second one, based on the notion of “incorporation” assumes that Lithuania was to become an integral part of post-war Poland, but with ensuring cultural autonomy for Lithuanians.