Photographing the Greater Poland Army: Kazimierz Greger and the Visual Documentation of Military Formation, 1918–1919

Abstract

This article examines the photographic documentation of the Greater Poland Uprising (1918–1919) and the formation of the Greater Poland Army by Kazimierz August Greger (1887–1967), a photographer trained in Germany and active in Poznań. Based on archival research and an analysis of over 300 images, the study reconstructs Greger’s contribution to recording the emergence of Polish military structures and symbols of authority in the western borderland. It is argued that his photographic series combined the precision of a craftsman with the discipline of a documentarian, serving as both propaganda and a military record. Greger’s work represents one of the earliest visual narratives of Polish state- and army-building, illustrating how regional patriotism supported national military consolidation.