This paper has been based on three assumptions that have been widely discussed in the international political science: (1) there has been a decline of democracy in East–Central Europe (ECE) with the emergence of “velvet dictatorships”, (2) the velvet dictatorships rely on the soft power of media and communication rather on the hard power of state violence that has provoked “cultural wars“ and (3) the basic turning point is the transition from the former modernization narrative to the traditional narrative with “reinventing the past” and “reconceptualising modernity” through the reference to the historically given collective national identity by launching the “politics of historical memory”. The velvet dictatorships have been using and abusing the national history as an ideological drug to consolidate their power. The (social and national) populism and Euroscepticism are the basic twin terms to describe the soft power of the new (semi)authoritarian regimes. They are convertible, the two sides of the same coin, since they express the same divergence from the EU mainstream from inside and outside. Soft power means that the political contest in the new regimes has been transferred from the hard to the soft fields of politics as the fight between the confronting narratives. The victory of the traditionalist–nativist narrative carries also the message that the people are only passive “subjects” and not active citizens, so the field of politics has been extremely narrowed in the “new brave world” in ECE. 

The diplomatic relations between Poland and China had been established before World War II. The new stage in the relations has started on October 7, 1949, when Poland oficially recognized the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was declared on October 1, 1949. Therefore, in 2009, we had two anniversaries: the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of china and the 60th anniversary of establishing the diplomatic relations between Poland and PRC. This gives the opportunity to summarize mutual relations. Those 60 years have been filled with positive stories, which had significant influence on the development of bilateral relations. However, one can also find dificult, even tragic moments during the history of these two nations. Those uneasy moments had also direct impact on mutual relations.

The aim of the article is to point out how in contemporary Russian school history textbooks the collapse of the Soviet Union and its consequences for Russia, Europe and the whole world are shown. By combining this information with public opinion polls, aimed at analyzing Russian attitude to this controversial period in history, an attempt was made to find an answer to the question of how in the cultural memory of Russians, transmitting the experience of the older generations to the younger, this groundbreaking change in the political system operates nowadays. The conducted analysis has shown that many Russian history textbooks present a balanced, unemotional picture of the process the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, there are also such textbooks, which include emotional negative opinions about the collapse of the Soviet superpower, considering this event as one of the most tragic moments in the history of the 20th century. The article cites excerpts from history textbooks for history, juxtaposing them with public opinion surveys (regarding the evaluation of the last CPSU Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev; an opinion about the possibility of avoiding the collapse of the USSR, the factors that cause the greatest sorrow for the state union). This juxtaposition has revealed that despite the passage of time, there is lack of one, acceptable to the general public version of events that took place a quarter of a century ago. Just as Russians evaluate events focused around the collapse of the USSR and its consequences differently, so authors of textbooks offer students interpretations of groundbreaking events very diverging from each other. Therefore, the article shows that the historical education of young Russians in relation to this specific period will be the sum of the family stories, reading textbook recommended by the teacher and teacher comments. This leads to the conclusion that the collapse of the USSR is an event affecting the cultural memory of Russians, though the evaluation of this period are still evolving.

The political aspects of the 1966 Millennium celebrations in Poland: the case of Gniezno

The article presents the circumstances and the course of the celebrations of the Millennium of the Polish State in April 1966. It discusses unsuccessful attempts undertaken by communists to torpedo ing church ceremonies presided by Primate Stefan Wyszyński.

Early years of the battle for Gabriel Narutowicz’s place in historical memory

This articles discusses what actions were undertaken to commemorate the first president in the Polish history. Gabriel Narutowicz was elected the President in December 1922 and assassinated by a political fanatic just a few days later, on the second day of holding the office. The death of the chief of state was a climax of fierce political war fought on the Polish political arena in 1922. Right after his assassination for some communities in the Second Polish Republic President Narutowicz became a symbolic victim of Polish national fanaticism, as left-wing formations used him as a tool to fight with right-wing groups in Poland. Their activities included fundraising to commemorate the President by erecting statues, naming streets and public institutions after him, organizing anniversary special events or publishing books, just to name a few. Not only did the results of such actions turn to be effective, they also proved to be incredibly long-lasting.