The G ral ethnic identity has been at the center of political machinations in Poland for centuries. The late Pope John Paul II, for example, was a G ral. This is the first book-length study of the G ral identity and one of the few studies in English to discuss G rals. Through personal interviews, local manuscripts, and academic histories of the region, author Deborah Cahalen Schneider shows how important the G ral identity has been to Poland's history. The conflict over the G ral identity in the community of Z ywiec, Poland serves as a lens through which Schneider views national identity issues and class conflict in Poland at large. The G ral identity not only gave this community a sense of togetherness under the Habsburg Empire, but also was a symbol of Polish identity for Polish nationalists during that time. Schneider shows how the G ral identity has spanned the rise and, arguably, the fall of nationalism as the primary discourse of political identity in the post-Cold War, European Union-dominated Eastern Europe.
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