Jan Kieniewicz

The Eastern Frontiers and the Civilisational Dimension of Europe

In the times when Europe was organised by superpowers, in the century between the Congress of Vienna and the Treaty of Versailles, the continent’s eastern part was split amongst three monarchs: the Russian and Austrian emperors and the King of Prussia. With time, the last of them became the emperor of Germany. In that world, the civilisational dimension of Europe and its political borders appeared to be the same, even despite the doubts that Europeans of the day voiced over Russia belonging to Europe, and regardless of how Russians or the English identifi ed themselves in relation to Europe. These were not simple issues from the point of view of people who – being subjects of three monarchs – felt themselves to have a separate identity. Stripped of their own statehoods, they sought expression for their national identity in emphasising their European civilisational affi liation. This was an affi liation felt, or at least intuitively expressed, by Poles, Hungarians and Czechs, for example. The Poles were a special case, as a nation divided amongst three monarchs. Defi ning their distinctiveness amongst Slavs, the Poles denied an affi nity with Russia and wanted to be perceived as Europeans. Seeking the coordinates of his affi liation 160 years ago, Cyprian Norwid, a Polish poet who created his works as an émigré in Paris, called himself ‘a stupid Slav’.1 As such, he saw himself as someone separate from and superior to the idea that West and East, and South and North could be understood as distinct forms of life. One could say that Norwid thus identifi ed himself as a member of a nation while at the same time emphatically defi ning his civilisational membership. However, what kind of world was it that the Pole – as expressed