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Description
The aim of the project is to disseminate knowledge about the history of the LGBT+ movement in Poland, including the 1985-87 ‘Hyacinth’ operation, which led to the mass detention and interrogation of homosexual men. In Poland, two thirds of non-heteronormative people have experienced at least one violent incident motivated by prejudice. According to the May 2021 ILGA-Europe Ranking, Poland is considered as the most homophobic country in the European Union. In 2018-21, during the election campaigns, non-heteronormative people were attacked on an unprecedented scale. However, this was not the first such situation in modern Polish history. In 1985-87, Poland''s communist-era police (the Milicja Obywatelska) carried out the ‘Hyacinth’ operation which involved mass detentions and interrogations of homosexual men. Today, many LGBT+ organisations and movements are defending the rights of this community in Poland. However, there is a lack of individual memory, and collective and institutional memory is limited to a narrow circle of directly engaged people. As part of the project, we are launching a website containing digitised resources and an audiovisual archive of the LGBT+ movement in Poland. Outdoor exhibitions dedicated to the history of the LGBT+ movement in Poland will be opened, and a series of meetings on this topic will be carried out. We will also hold a scientific conference and make available a post-conference publication. Our partner in the project is the Lepsze Jutro Association, which is providing the scientific background. We dedicate the project to the memory of Roma Cieśla, our friend, who inspired us to explore the history of LGBT+ movements and document it.
Summary of project results
The "Pink Archives" project aims to disseminate knowledge about Operation Hyacinth - mass arrests of people suspected of "homosexual tendencies". By commemorating non-heteronormative people, with particular reference to their existence in Polish history, supporting intergenerational activities and attempting to research the topic scientifically, it aims to combat the narrative that non-heteronormativity is the result of "Western fashion" and point to its inextricable connection with Polish history. The ILGA Rainbow Map ranking has been placing Poland in last place for years, giving it the title of the most homophobic country in the EU. In the years 2018-21, attacks on non-heteronormative people took place in Poland on an unprecedented scale. The situation escalated due to the ongoing election campaigns at that time. Public figures, including the President of the Republic of Poland running for a second term, made statements dehumanizing the LGBT+ community and all non-heteronormative people. There were words about the "red plague", that LGBT people are not people, and that LGBT people are not equal to normal people. These statements contained a consistent assumption that the "LGBT ideology" behind the alleged demoralization of public space was something alien, unnatural, and inconsistent with Polish culture and way of life. This could give the impression that LGBT people themselves are not part of our society, maybe not even Poles. In addition to the dehumanizing element, there was also an element of exclusion from society. History is one of the most important tools used to build and strengthen identity, e.g. national or ethnic. The same is true for discriminated groups. It is worth knowing where you come from, what you grow from and having a geographical and historical reference point. Publicizing the topic is also intended to indicate the connection between those events and the current situation of LGBT+ people in Poland, with an indication of the cause and effect relationships.
As part of the project, a website was created containing, among others: audiovisual archive – testimonies of people who experienced Operation Hyacinth. In addition, there was a series of exhibitions devoted to the history of LGBT+ movements in Poland. Exhibitions were held in Kraków, Gdańsk, Łódź and Szczecin. As part of the project, a series of meetings with experts was also organized, the topics of which concerned important issues for the LGBT+ community - ageism, intergenerational bonds, etc. In October 2023, the interdisciplinary conference Pink Archives: what remained after the "Hiacinth" action was organized, which resulted in a meeting of the scientific and activist communities and a discussion on the issues of Poland''s queer history (and present). A post-conference publication was also created. The project was dedicated to the memory of Roma Cieśla - a friend of the Polistrefa Foundation - activist for LGBT+ people and women''s rights, one of the initiators of the first organizations of non-heteronormative women, activist of Lambda Kraków (founded in 1990) and the Safo Group. We have established cooperation with 5 organizations - local partners (from Szczecin, Łódź and Gdańsk) and activists. Three interviews were conducted with people experienced in the "Hiacynth" operation. The conference we organized was attended by 52 people from the academic and activist world. Some of them were invited to co-create the publication. We ran an information campaign on Facebook about marriage equality. Through posts, each of which included four infographics and a case presented in the content of the post, recipients could learn about the difficulties non-heteronormative people encounter in everyday life. The content of the post and its graphics indicated a specific connection between today''s discrimination consisting in legal disregard for, for example, same-sex relationships, and the situation of the queer community in the period discussed in other project activities - the 1980s.
During the project, 61 people were involved in activities: 16 - people who cooperated on the project 7 – people who gave interviews for the audiovisual archive and were involved in their recording 5 – people from local organizations that are event partners 9 – panelists at discussion meetings 16 – people from the conference''s scientific committee and panelists 8 – conference staff on the day of the event. During the project, contact was established with 7 seniors from the LGBT+ community. The recordings were a medium that allowed for preserving memories and descriptions of experiences, and thus preserving the memory of the history of non-heteronormative people. Three organizations cooperated with us in developing the website and the content: Tolerado Association from Gdańsk, Fabryka Równości Association from Łódź and Lambda Szczecin Association. In addition to the website, a fanpage for the project was also created on Facebook. It featured substantive content related to the "Hiacinth" campaign and the history of LGBT+ movements in Poland, as well as information about the project and project activities. In order to organize exhibitions, cooperation was also established with local cultural institutions from Łódź and Szczecin, MeMo Mediateka in Łódź and the Kana Theater and Łąka Kana from Szczecin. The substantive content of the exhibition was consulted with 1 external expert - Krzysztof Tomasik. Each of the four exhibitions was presented for at least 7 days in outdoor public spaces or generally accessible spaces of cultural institutions, which makes it impossible to estimate exactly how many people saw it. The recipients could be all people who knew Polish. Thanks to these activities, we highlighted the topic of the "Hiacynth" campaign and drew attention to the issue of remembering the history of non-heteronormative people.