The town of Bolesław III Wrymouth? In search of founding myth and legitimization based on the Piast dynasty on the example of celebrating 840 years of Jelenia Góra in 1948

Abstract

The commemoration of 840 years of Jelenia Góra, organized in 1948, were a propaganda event based on narratives created at that time, concerning the history of those territories, in particular – the legacy of Piast dynasty. Such narration about the past was possible not only because of the communist vision of the past forced top-down on the society, but also thanks to stories about the origins of the medieval settlement which emerged at grass-roots level. This paper presents research on the vision of the past dissem- inated in 1945–1948 through popular science publications – such releases contributed to making Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth (in the eyes of the Jelenia Góra citizens) the founder of the town, and to establishing the Silesian Piasts as the element legitimizing the post-war Polish settlement and the Polishness of those lands.