Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz promoted Aleksander Miszalski as president of Kraków, saying his politician had “blue, Slavic eyes” and “a powerful Habsburg jaw”., so he is suitable to rule the royal city. The left was not outraged that the presentation of ‘Slavicness’ or ‘blue eyes’ as an advantage smacked of racism, but perhaps the Minister of Culture was forgiven because the Hasburg motif has something to do with incest, once praised by a leftist professor (also from Krakow). By pointing out that Miszalski has a Habsburg jaw, we are also reminded that this facial anomaly of this Viennese dynasty was the result of the close relationship between the spouses.
This Empress Maria Theresa married her cousin Francis I of Lorraine at her own request – they were both great-grandsons of Emperor Ferdinand III Habsburg, who he was also the great-grandson and great-grandson of Ferdinand I Hasburg (1503-1564)!. Miszalski does not show such pathology in family affairs, although malicious people say that setting up a hostel on the place where the Gestapo executed the Poles is no less scandalous than the dynastic ties between relatives.
Distribution of Krakow
Maria Teresa herself, given here as an example of marrying a cousin, was too co-author of the first partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth – and therefore also of part of Kraków (Podgórze). It started a chapter in Kraków’s history about the decline of the city’s infrastructure, which would be relegated to the role of a province during Habsburg times. Perhaps Miszalski’s wide jaw should also become a symbol of the marginalization of the royal city?
Submission to the West
The Hasburg dynasty itself became a symbol for Poland in the 19th century, seducing Poles with offices and privileges so that they would give up their dreams of independence. Wiesław Helak even made it an important motif in the excellent novel “Nad Zbruczem”, published in Kraków a few years ago. Literary critics believe that the 19th century Vienna of the Habsburgs there resembles today’s Brussels, which buys politicians from the periphery with money and trinkets so that they can plunder the provinces – this is a fake Citizens’ Platform!
So perhaps peculiar Sienkiewicz’s compliment to Miszalski had more levels than just a reference to the appearance and rule of the Habsburgs in Kraków. Perhaps the Minister of Culture, an extremely well-read man, publicly revealed the essence of his party’s policy in the royal city, and his fellow party members simply did not understand much of this statement?
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Source: wPolityce