Polish politics of memory has undergone significant change in the past several years, becoming more entrenched and preoccupied with projecting an image of Poland as the victim of successive historical catastrophes. At the same time, Polish politics relies increasingly more often on visions of happy “futures past” that are deeply rooted in Polish culture and builds social resentment by accusing subsequent social groups of squandering away chances for development. Therefore, it seems necessary to ask what are these versions of Polish alternate history embedded in Polish culture and in what way do they influence contemporary politics of memory?
Justyna Tabaszewska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Józef Tischner Visiting Fellow at the IWM.
Timothy Snyder, IWM Permanent Fellow and Levin Professor of History at Yale University, moderated and commented the colloquium.
