Created in the distant past, attitudes and patterns of thinking have caused the mentality of contemporary Poles. The collective memory about the greatness delusions of old-time nobilities and the traumas suffered in the annexed territories today infl uence their thinking and behaviours as well national self-evaluation.

Introduction: Trauma is one of the leading causes of death in the European Union. The European Trauma Course (ETC) is a training course that focuses on administering aid to trauma patients in a Hospital’s Emergency Department by creating an effective and well-organized trauma team. The purpose of the study is to analyze how the ETC training is evaluated by its participants and whether it is tailored to local needs.

Materials and Methodology: The study includes eight courses conducted between 2010 and 2015, involving 109 medical professionals. Participants were given questionnaires where they could evaluate the various aspects of the course and comment on each of them, using a four-level scale. Finally, 78 surveys were qualified for the study.

Results: The exercises were very highly rated (average 3.79 points), mainly for their interesting scenarios and station preparation. Equally well-evaluated was the short and concise method of instruction. The lowest ranked aspect was the course fee (2.41 points). There were oft en negative comments about the use of English during the training (lectures and manuals).

Discussion: The opinions of Polish students were similar to those of ETC participants in other European countries. There are many interesting advantages of workshop scenarios, while the downside is the time constraint. Nevertheless, the ETC has been very successful. High ratings and positive feedback affirm the high demand for such courses in Poland.

Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the importance of social bonds for our ability to cope with traumatizing incidents. It is theorized that the dysfunctions related to trauma, such as alexithymia and dissociation can be linked to certain parental attitudes towards a child in an early developmental stages together with characteristics of the trauma itself, namely the identity of the perpetrator, understood as his or her social closeness to the victim.

Participants: A total number of 60 participants, selected randomly from a population, psychiatric hospital patients as well as psychotherapy centers were tested using four questionnaires (TAS-26, PSD, CES, PBI).

Results: The analyses revealed that high alexithymia levels are related to demanding attitude of the caregivers, whereas dissociation is more common in people who remember their parents as inconsequent and emotionally labile. Findings related to the connection between the identity of a perpetrator of the trauma and the sequelae showed that the dissociation levels were significantly higher in victims who suffered abuse from the hands of family member or friends than those who were harmed by unknown people.

On the example of selected works by Oksana Zabuzhko, Volodymyr Lys, and Vasyl Shklar, I discuss the narrations of memory and ways of writing about history in Ukrainian contemporary prose. Historical topics concerning the traumatic experiences of the twentieth century appear in Ukrainian prose along with the regaining of independence and develop after 2000. The authors refer primarily to those issues which in the Soviet era were silenced, erased, censored. An important place in literary narratives of memory is occupied by the threads of OUN-UPA fi ghts, the Ukrainian-Bolshevik war, UNR times, Soviet terror, Great Hunger, the demythologization of World War II is also important, as well as an uncensored description of post-war Soviet reality. In the text, I do not carry out a detailed analysis of selected novels, but only highlight the main problems and ways in which authors write about history.

Artykuł podejmuje problem pamięci zbiorowej o czasach II wojny światowej wśród mieszkańców śląskiej wsi Bojszowy. Odwołując się do koncepcji traumy kulturowej Jeffreya C. Alexandra zadano pytanie: czy w przypadku pamięci mieszkańców badanej wsi o czasach wojny mamy do czynienia z wystąpieniem traumy kulturowej? Do analizy wybrano dwa problemy: pamięć o służbie mężczyzn w Wehrmachcie oraz pamięć o sąsiedztwie nazistowskiego obozu zagłady w Auschwitz-Birkenau (wieś znajduje się w bezpośrednim sąsiedztwie Oświęcimia). Odpowiedź na pytanie badawcze uzyskano dzięki analizie trzydziestu relacji zebranych techniką wywiadu pogłębionego. Badanie odtworzonych treści pamięci zbiorowej pokazało, że pamięć o służbie bojszowian w Wehrmachcie ma charakter traumy kulturowej. Pamięć o tych dramatycznych doświadczeniach przetworzona została na narrację, która odmieniła tożsamość mieszkańców wsi. Taki proces nie zaszedł w przypadku pamięci o obozie Zagłady, dlatego równie trudnych wydarzeń związanych z tym sąsiedztwem nie można ujmować w kategoriach traumy kulturowej.