Paweł Machcewicz
Prof. Dr. Paweł Machcewicz, historian, professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. From 2008 to 2017, he was the founding director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. He has taught at the Warsaw University and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and was director of research and education at the Institute of National Remembrance in 2000-2006. He edited and co-authored the publication Wokół Jedwabnego (Jedwabne and Beyond, 2002) about the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne in 1941 committed by their Polish neighbors (the German edition: Der Beginn der Vernichtung. Zum Mord an den Juden in Jedwabne und Umgebung in Sommer 1941. Neue Forschungsergebnisse polnischer Historiker, Fibre, Osnabrück: 2004). His other books include: Rebellious Satellite. Poland 1956 (Woodrow Wilson Center-Stanford University Press, Washington DC-Stanford, 2009); Poland`s War on Radio Free Europe 1950-1989 (Woodrow Wilson Center-Stanford University Press, Washington DC-Stanford, 2014); The War That Never Ends. The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk (De Gruyter, Berlin-Boston 2019).
Photo by Rudolf H. Boettcher
Photo by Rudolf H. Boettcher
Historians, museums and politics of history. The Polish case
In Poland, history has in the last two decades become an important political and ideological battleground and this process brought about enormous pressures on historians. The right- wing, nationalistic and populist Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which ruled in 2005-2007 and again in 2015-2023, has devoted more attention to history and historians than any other government in Poland, and, possibly, anywhere else in the European Union. PiS created its own politics of history and attempted to impose it upon researchers and institutions dealing with the past. Those who did not subscribe to the official narratives were harassed by the government and presented as traitors denigrating their own country. The most eminent cases were the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and scholars who conducted research on the Polish complicity in the Holocaust. On the other hand, there were many historians who supported the government`s politics of history and took part in shaping the official narratives. The Polish experience has got a significance going far beyond the scope of one country. It tells an important story about challenges that history and historians face when they are confronted with the political power determined to exploit the past for political and ideological reasons.
Paweł Machcewicz
Prof. Dr. Paweł Machcewicz, historian, professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. From 2008 to 2017, he was the founding director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. He has taught at the Warsaw University and the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and was director of research and education at the Institute of National Remembrance in 2000-2006. He edited and co-authored the publication Wokół Jedwabnego (Jedwabne and Beyond, 2002) about the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne in 1941 committed by their Polish neighbors (the German edition: Der Beginn der Vernichtung. Zum Mord an den Juden in Jedwabne und Umgebung in Sommer 1941. Neue Forschungsergebnisse polnischer Historiker, Fibre, Osnabrück: 2004). His other books include: Rebellious Satellite. Poland 1956 (Woodrow Wilson Center-Stanford University Press, Washington DC-Stanford, 2009); Poland`s War on Radio Free Europe 1950-1989 (Woodrow Wilson Center-Stanford University Press, Washington DC-Stanford, 2014); The War That Never Ends. The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk (De Gruyter, Berlin-Boston 2019).
Photo by Rudolf H. Boettcher
Photo by Rudolf H. Boettcher
Historians, museums and politics of history. The Polish case
In Poland, history has in the last two decades become an important political and ideological battleground and this process brought about enormous pressures on historians. The right- wing, nationalistic and populist Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which ruled in 2005-2007 and again in 2015-2023, has devoted more attention to history and historians than any other government in Poland, and, possibly, anywhere else in the European Union. PiS created its own politics of history and attempted to impose it upon researchers and institutions dealing with the past. Those who did not subscribe to the official narratives were harassed by the government and presented as traitors denigrating their own country. The most eminent cases were the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk and scholars who conducted research on the Polish complicity in the Holocaust. On the other hand, there were many historians who supported the government`s politics of history and took part in shaping the official narratives. The Polish experience has got a significance going far beyond the scope of one country. It tells an important story about challenges that history and historians face when they are confronted with the political power determined to exploit the past for political and ideological reasons.