UNEMPLOYED PEOPLE IN MALOPOLSKA VOIVODESHIP - PAST AND PRESENT OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM IN LIGHT OF PERSONALAND OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS

Presently, Małopolska voivodeship is the core of the south-eastern region of the country. Małopolska during the last two centuries experienced numerous political and administrative changes, including the period after the Second World War. In the times of the partitions, Małopolska was overcrowded, poor and economically backward region. During the interwar period the situation improved but the economic crisis of the 30's led to mass unemployment and to significant deterioration in the living conditions of families, what is reflected in the memoirs written by the inhabitants of the province of Kraków. They were published in the classic work, „Memoirs of the Unemployed" edited by Ludwik Krzywicki. The experience of unemployment during the years of the Great Depression was confronted with descriptions of inactivity in the first decade of the system transi-tion. The subjective world of the unemployed was supplemented with quantitative data showing changes in the labour market in the voivodeship. The comparison of contemporary diaries and those written before 80 years have revealed differences in the institutional support of the health care and social assistance and the similarities in the experience of unemployment.