Page 189 - Ciancia, On Civilization's Edge

issued a call for contributions from a board made up of educational experts, their demands had

revealed the prevailing ways in which peoples and environments were categorized. Submitted

manuscripts were to include, among other things, information about the children’s geographical

environment, anthropological type, levels of cleanliness and religiosity, and proclivity for sexual

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relations.

While largely adhering to the instructions set by the editors, the essay about Volhynia went

beyond a simple description of a typical child, painting instead a broader picture of the backwardness

of the Volhynian countryside. The essay’s author, Grzegorz Paszkiewicz (presumably a teacher or

head teacher, although his precise affiliation is not given in the book), described the adult population

of Volhynia in overwhelmingly negative terms: they were characterized by moral and physical

slovenliness, a propensity for telling lies, and a refusal to use the accouterments of modern

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civilization, like a toothbrush or a handkerchief. They also drank far too much alcohol—“vodka is

the only glimmer of pleasure in the life of the Volhynian peasant,” Paszkiewicz stated—and the

interiors of their houses were smelly and dank, giving rise to a popular joke that the reason why the

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air in Volhynia was clean was because the peasants never opened their windows. Within this

environment, it seemed perfectly natural that Volhynian children were dirty, unkempt, and poorly

fed, accustomed to a diet of potatoes and left with virtually nothing to eat during Orthodox lent.

While, Paszkiewicz argued, Volhynian parents loved their children, they did little to create strong

familial bonds, and children tended to treat their parents without affection. Neither generation

understood the importance of education. The very fact that the child even has to go to school,

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Paszkiewicz stated, was “a great nonsense” to parents and children alike.

91 Maria Librachowa (ed.), Dziecko wsi polskiej: próba charakterystyki (Warsaw, 1934), 16-17.
92 Grzegorz Paszkiewicz, “Dziecko Wołyńskie,” in Librachowa (ed.), Dziecko wsi polskiej, 251-3.
93 Paszkiewicz, “Dziecko Wołyńskie,” 251. The idea of the Volhynian villager as someone who drank too much
alcohol was also remarked upon in the local press. See, for instance, “Trzeci list ze wsi wołyńskiej,” Przegląd
Wołyński, April 5, 1931, 5.
94 Paszkiewicz, “Dziecko Wołyńskie,” 240.

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