Lessons from the past on Collective Memory, Catholic Church in Poland and the Gulag.

Three lectures on the Role of Catholic Church in Poland, Collective memory and Totalitarianism in the East along with a Fellows Discussion on national identity set the frame for the second HIA day (10.06) in Warsaw. Various discussions emerged while knowledge about the particular context of Poland and ideas about national identity were shared.

Magda Szarota set within her brief introduction the point of reference for the day. She began by referring to Maurice Halbwach’s definition of collective memory as a necessary portion of knowledge passed on within a group.

The first two lectures were given by Dr. Sebastian Duda, philosopher, theologist and journalist of Newsweek Poland and Prof. Zdzisław Mach, Director of the Institute of European Studies of the Jagiellonian University.

Dr. Duda covered in his lecture the long relationship of the Catholic Church and Poland which is one of the most catholic countries in Europe. Already the foundation of the Polish kingdom in the 9th century was accompanied by the baptism of Poland. Nonetheless it’s further evolution cumulated in a multicultural, multiethnic and multireligious state of the noble republic by the end of the 18th century. The subsequent occupation of Poland by Russia, Prussia and Austria put Poles in a difficult situation of not having their own state. On the one hand the idea of Poland as the messiah of all nations suffering for the sins of humanity emerged. On the other hand being Catholic became an essential aspect of being Polish. During the wars the Catholic Church played a central role in the Polish state and in the subsequent time of communism it was a legitimate opposition and island of freedom that contributed to the breakdown of the Soviet Block. After problems in adapting in the post communist era the Catholic Church is still influential. It touches upon topics of everyday life and human rights such as education, abortion, constitution and controls parts of the media.

Prof. Mach pointed out the various aspects of an evolving collective memory and national identity. Collective memory often has the aim of constructing unity and is in general a highly selective process which contains forgetting. For the creation of an identity the role of significant others is important. In the case of Poland there is Germany and Russia who are often perceived as threads while the United States are seen as a positive role model. Important aspects of the Polish identity are culture and particularly the language that is not shared by any other nation. Particular in the Polish context is the disconnection of the polish identity from the idea of citizenship which is due to the occupation in the 19th century.

Our Fellow’s Discussion on national identity was lead by Corey Jentry and Barbara Pięta. Each national group presented defining aspects of its country. The diversity of the results was evident and the question of collective responsibility was raised.

The final lecture of the day was given by Anne Applebaum, a journalist, writer and columnist for the Washington Post. She shed the light on a less prominent phenomenon of Totalitarianism in the 20th century – the soviet system of forced labor camps, so called Gulags which can be compared to Nazi concentration camps to an large extent. Even though a part of about 30 millions victims fit the UN definition of the genocide (namely the Chechen) there is an obvious necessity of a mechanism to prevent mass murder committed by state force not fitting the Genocide Convention.
-Kamil Kolata (German fellow)