Zośka and Rudy are Poland’s national heroes, protagonists of a school set book Stones for the Rampart. This legendary book has been read by every Pole, yet its underlying messages are seldom examined.

Kornelia Sobczak’s essay is the first serious attempt to confront Aleksander Kamiński’s celebrated work and to reveal its role in constructing the myth that today surrounds the heroes of Stones for the Rampart. Sobczak brings to light contexts that are often omitted from accounts of the Second World War and the years preceding it. She does not shy away from addressing the issues that have provoked the greatest controversy to date: speculation concerning a homoerotic relationship between Zośka and Rudy, and Bytnar’s membership in the far-right National Radical Camp (ONR). She also seeks to trace and analyse the ways in which sound educational programmes, admirable ideals, and noble intentions founder on the reefs of nationalism, militarism, and cultural models founded upon the cult of masculinity and a national vision of community. Nothing here is self-evident, and much proves to be entirely different from what we have become accustomed to thinking.

moderator: Błażej Warkocki

This description is taken from the website of Krytyka Polityczna, the book’s publisher.