Institutionalised Identity

- Presentation speakers
  - Karolina Golinowska, University of Kazimierz Wielki, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Abstract:

This article analyses the recent trend in cultural politics in Poland oriented towards various commemorations of the past, which form a clear strategy of politics of memory. The key elements described are as follows: ministerial programmes, the phenomenon of the Warsaw Rising and its institutional representation, and the narrative of the “Cursed Soldiers” and its application in official and non-official structures. The article claims that the last element in particular is being used as a cornerstone of modern Polish identity, gaining huge popularity among nationalist communities and serving as a tool for their integration. However, the ongoing process of the appropriation of history, as well as its distortion, creates an atmosphere of conflict over symbols and historical facts.