„Nie trzeba się załamywać, jest się przecież mężczyzną”. Obrazy męskości w pamiętnikach polskich robotników przymusowych

The following article presents the themes explored previously in the award‑winning Master’s thesis titled “No need to worry. One’s a man after all’: The Images of Manhood in Polish Forced Laborers’ Memoirs.” The topic of masculinity among Polish forced labourers remains an underexplored aspect in the field of history. This study delves into memoirs submitted to memoir competitions in 1946 and between 1964–1965 by former Polish male forced labourers, closely investigating the masculine figure known as the “Protector,” drawing inspiration from Maddy Carey’s study “Jewish Masculinities in the Holocaust: Between Destruction and Construction” (2019). The figure of “Protector” is analyzed on the basis of the fathers and father figures mentioned in the memoirs, as well on as the passages where the memoirists assume the role of the “Protectors” themselves, standing up for their family members or women. The author introduces the concept of “deposits of masculinity,” which encapsulates the dynamics of oncepossessed, lost, and regained masculine figures of self.