Summary

The author of the article proposes an analysis of the work and life of Józef Mackiewicz from three perspectives that introduce us to the context of the era. The first perspective concerns the political context of Poland in the 1930s. As the author of the collection of reportages “Bunt Rojstów” entered a collision path with the policy of the then ruling power, which practiced unceremonious action directed not only against ethnic minorities, but also against the centuries-old tradition of tolerance and coexistence of national and religious groups. The myth of his alleged conversion from Catholicism to Orthodoxy, if unfounded in facts, remains an intriguing form of expression of his rebellion approach. The second message remains – not literally – the idea of nurturing local political thought. In this particular case, it was the idea of “nationality” that resulted from the wider discourse around the idea of a free and unforced federation of nations in Eastern Europe. And finally, the third message – resulting from his organic hatred of everything Bolshevik and Soviet – is the role of a whistleblower in Europe. In today’s context, this intellectual opposition to the Soviet left takes on special significance.