Post-Communist Resentment, or the Rewriting of Polish History
Post-Communist Resentment, or the Rewriting of Polish History
Author(s): Irena Grudzińska-GrossSubject(s): Political history, Government/Political systems, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010), Historical revisionism, Post-Communist Transformation, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: SAGE Publications Ltd
Keywords: Poland; rewriting history; post-communist transformation; 1989 revolutions; 1991 Polish elections;
Summary/Abstract: The images that come to mind when we think about the 1989 "revolutions" are, on the one hand, the victory sign and the smiling crowds and, on the other, the overthrow of idols: of such real ones as Ceaușescu in Romania and Honnecker in East Germany and of the monuments of the dead ones, gigantic granite Lenins and Dzerzhinskiis towed away and the squares around them renamed for old kings or insurrectionary leaders. New monuments are built, new (or pre-Communist) geographic names appear on the changing map of East Central Europe and the former Soviet Empire. Schools and streets are getting new names, as if in a powerful effort to sweep history clean, and the same expressions of rejection are directed against yesterday's heroes-the dissident intellectuals. [...]
Journal: East European Politics and Societies
- Issue Year: 06/1992
- Issue No: 02
- Page Range: 141-151
- Page Count: 11
- Language: English
- Content File-PDF