I 110 Perspectives from Poland At least two of them still form ideological and aesthetic reference points for contemporary ethnicist Pagan identifications. The one that is probably most influential developed around the magazine Zadruga and its editor Jan Stachniuk in the 1930s. Even today, Stachniuk is described as an “almost legendary figure” who “continues to tower over the landscape of the Polish Neopagan movement”.11 His philosophy is very complex and his attitude towards Slavic Pagan faith ambivalent. Both seem to stem more from a strong criticism of Catholicism and its perceived negative impact on Polish society than from a connection to Slavic heritage or ancestral spirituality. Yet his concept of wspakultura, which translates as “un-” or “anti-culture”, became important for the Neopagan movement and especially for right-wing groups connected to this “Zadrugian” tradition. It describes and criticises processes that work against and hinder cultural development if people do not actively help to create and develop the nation. Stachniuk and his adherents regarded the contemplative character of Catholicism as wspakultura and campaigned for its abolition.12 His followers included Slavophiles but also supporters of racist ideas, and together they formed an ideology based not only on anti-Catholicism and Rodzimowierstwo – the Polish Native Faith – but also on a strong sense of Polish nationalism. Furthermore, Stachniuk’s idea of an endeavour that was always active, progressive, developing and useful married up very well with National Socialist thought patterns, i.e. primarily Social Darwinist ideas all the way through to eugenics, and hence they formed a common point of reference for the radical-right Neopagan groups of the late 1990s and early 2000s.13 Although a great variety of Neopagan orientations developed after the Second World War, including some branching into more folkloristic and/or ecological movements as well, various groups still follow the Zadruga spirit to this day. These include Rodzima Wiara, one of the major Native Faith organisations in Poland. Others, such as Toporzel Publishing, the “Niklot” Association of Tradition and Culture, the Zakon Zadrugi Fig. 1 Battle reenactment at the Festival of Slavs and Vikings in Wolin, Poland, 2017.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTMyNjA1