Celem artykułu jest podjęcie refleksji dotyczącej uwarunkowań (możliwości i ograniczeń) realizacji przez podmioty państwowe polityki historycznej w zróżnicowanym społeczeństwie - w warunkach liberalnej demokracji. Tak zarysowane zadanie wymaga w pierwszej kolejności wskazania kreatorów oraz pola znaczeniowego terminu „polityka historyczna”, a także możliwych (dostępnych) sposobów, którymi może być ona realizowana. Ze względu na objętość artykułu będzie to jedynie próba zasygnalizowania pewnych, w przekonaniu autorów istotnych dla tytułowej problematyki, zagadnień mogących stanowić przyczynek do dalszych badań.

Ethical standards of the work of historians in the specific context of historical cognition

The existing „Code of Ethics for Employees” in Poland, as well as other documents prepared by representatives of all sciences gathered in research institutes of the appropriate reputation, do not in themselves distinguish between the specific characteristics of particular fields, especially between the humanities and nature sciences, The scientist in itself based on the general ethical standards in force in the European cultural circle. The purpose of this article is to attempt to exemplify the ethical dangers inherent in its scientific activity, and which derives from the specificity of the theory of historical cognition, whose verification differs fundamentally from the verification of conclusions formulated by rigorous sciences or social sciences based on statistical methods. This task was also undertaken with an indication of differences in the intensity of problematic ethical issues depending on the intent and object of historical research.

Memory nodes. The issue of the Katyn massacre in Polish-Russian relations

The article focuses on discussing the impact of the conditions regarding the Katyn massacre on the current relations between Warsaw and Moscow. The history of these two countries is characterized by a long and difficult past, which is why numerous unresolved disputes, burdens and myths have arisen and are still visible today, negatively affecting bilateral contacts. In 1989, right after the fall of the communist system in Poland, the new political elites, coordinating the process of democratic changes in our country, made efforts to sort out the controversial threads in the common Polish-Russian history. Without a doubt, the most important of them was the Katyn massacre. For the political elites of the Third Polish Republic, explaining the overall circumstances of those events was the most important goal of diplomatic activities undertaken towards the Kremlin. In Warsaw’s opinion, untangling this knot of memory from the history of relations between the two countries was supposed to help free them from past burdens and negative accumulations and contribute to strengthening friendship in current times. Unfortunately, it quickly turned out that this topic soon became one of the main elements negatively burdening mutual relations.