ABSTRACT
During the first years following the Second World War, the lands which came to Poland east of the border on the Oder-Neisse Line would come to be known as the ‘Polish Wild West’. This concept alludes to, on the one hand, the atmosphere of chaos and ‘the law of the jungle’ reigning at the time while, on the other hand, suggesting an opportunity to create something new from the ground up. However, ‘Polish Wild West’ was a colloquial name which, due to its negative connotation, was viewed by the Communist authorities as of no use and thereby was to be avoided in public discourse. Despite this, it began to take on a life of its own in everyday language. In response to the inquiry ‘Polish Wild West’, internet search engines place a review of the film Prawo i Piesc (The Law and the Fist), directed by Jerzy Hoffman in 1964, in first place.
