Upolitycznienie historii: polityka i pamięć

Abstract

Observation of the growing discussion on the history and memory of the Se- cond World War leads to an assumption that it is not aimed at finding the objective criteria of historical assessment but rather at achieving certain political gain. The ongoing cultivation of the Second World War memory stimulates these ideologized discussions. Over the last decade Russian historians and politicians have been still engaged in mythologization of the Red Armies “liberating mission” in the Baltic States in spite of the war crimes committed there by the soviet soldiers. The pro- paganda of Kremlin continues to use the 9th of May (The Victory Day) to stress the Russian triumph over fascism and silence the geopolitical consequences of the Communist-Nazi struggle for Easter European nations. Evaluation of the Second World War events is differentiated and depends on experiences of particular nations and “politics of memory” carried out by governments. Over the recent decades intensive “history manufacturing” on the government level has led to the establish- ment of the “politics of memory” – instrumental utilization of collective memory has been aimed at promoting a mystified description of the past by means of incul- cating societies with “indisputable truths”. Thus produced new “collective memory” stands in contradiction to the unique and controversial character of historical events. Artificial and ideologized narratives are what deprives them of any historicity.