Abstract
This article discusses the war diary of controversial Polish poet Władysław Broniewski (1897-1962) during his participation in conflicts against Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania and the USSR, from 1918 to 1921. Approaching auto/biographical studies from the perspective of anthropological practice, we can interpret Broniewski's diary as a patchwork of contradictory ethical and political viewpoints rooted in the clichés and stereotypes of 19th c.
Polish literature. From the progressive inclusion of a colonial discourse that legitimizes Polish military expansion to the East, to the role of traumatizing war violence, we find a Broniewski searching hesitatingly for new literary inspiration, in affirming - yet contradictory - formulations.
This reveals the genealogy of his growing engagement with communism, as well as the difficulties of surpassing the mythical stereotype of 'borderlands' (Kresy) as crucial to the idea of Polishness.