The Third Occupation: Polish Memory, Victimhood, and Populism | A Thread @BobcatsDiscover #OUVirtualExpo @OUHTC

First off, hello. I am a senior Political Science HTC student at @ohiou. I did my senior thesis on Polish memory politics under their current populist, far-right government.

Populism is: 'the pure people’ versus ‘the corrupt elite,’ and which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people. (from Cas Mudde and Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser)

Memory politics is the politics of how we remember people, events, locations. Think about the controversy over Confederate monuments and how we remember the Civil War. That's US memory politics.

In Poland, memory politics revolves primarily around WW2 and the Soviet period after it. Basically 1939-1989. Poland suffered horribly under the Nazis and the Soviets: both Polish Jews and ethnic Poles. Millions died and cities were devastated.

I don't discount Polish victimhood, however, PiS has made it part of this governing platform to make victimhood the only narrative to suppress narratives of guilt. Jedwabne is often the example that comes to mind (read Neighbors by Jan Gross)

We've seen PiS' memory politics in fights over @polinmuseum and @museum1939. Both museums have been taken over by PiS and the story they tell has been changed to favorite PiS' narrative.

Most starkly is the 2018 Holocaust Law that bans the use of the phrase "Polish Death Camp" or any accusation that the Poles were responsible for crimes committed by the Nazis. To be fair, the Poles aren't responsible for the Nazi's crime but still.

For more on the 2018 law and the sentiment behind it, Elisabeth Zerofsky's New Yorker article is really good. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/07/30/is-poland-retreating-from-democracy

In all, PiS' memory politics is about gaining power in Poland and solidifying their hold on government power. This is not uncommon, it's happening all over the place. Notable in Hungary and some in Russia. PiS is creating a "pure people" out of Poles based on memory...

and the perceived denial of that history.

For some cool Polish history, nice pictures, and to next illustrate my point @ipngovpl_eng
The IPN is a government agency dedicated to Polish history, education, and the "prosecution of crimes against the Polish Nation"

Suggested Reading:
Jan Karski's Story of a Secret State
Wanda Półtawska's And I am afraid of my dreams
Nechama Tec's When light pierced the darkness
Jan T Gross' books
Timothy Snyder's Bloodlands

I'd also like to thank my advisor Dr. Myra Waterbury for all her help.