Opinion: It is time to dismantle PiS’s memory politics6 min read
Poland’s new government faces the important task of reversing the memory politics installed by the previous right-wing, nationalist PiS party. While reforms are already underway, more work needs to be done.
Donald Tusk, leader of the Civic Platform (PO) and Poland’s Prime Minister from 2007-2014, was re-elected by the Sejm in December 2023 following elections during which the right-wing, nationalist ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) was ousted. Tusk’s party ran on a platform promising to reverse the democratic backsliding initiated by PiS and reinstate the rule of law within the country. As a part of this platform, Tusk and his party have a duty to dismantle the memory politics put into place by PiS.
Reversing democratic backsliding
Already this year, the EU has released some funds to Poland that had previously been frozen due to democratic backsliding under the previous government, which included changes to the judicial system that the EU said violated democratic checks and balances. An action plan was presented in February by Polish Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, outlining how the new government would address the issues the EU was concerned with, such as control of state media, restrictions on women’s rights and abortion, and undermining the rule of law. The plan introduced nine laws “to restore judicial independence” along with pledges to uphold the authority of the European Court of Justice and the supremacy of EU law. In addition, since Tusk took office, his coalition has attempted to reform state media, fired PiS appointees, and arrested two PiS lawmakers on corruption charges. Ironically, President Duda accused Tusk and his government of violating the rule of law after Tusk removed TVP off the air, the public TV channel whose independence was undermined by PiS, and fired some of its executives who were still loyal to the former ruling party.
Other parts of the plan have not taken off yet as President Duda has the power to veto legislation. Tusk’s government still has a long way to go and seems set on completing its mission only after the 2025 presidential elections, in hopes that a PiS candidate will not win. But what about the memory politics PiS forced onto the country and their damage to Poland’s cultural institutions?
Memory politics of the 20th century
For years, PiS actively reshaped Poland’s national narrative, emphasising the country’s victimhood under Nazi and Soviet occupation while downplaying controversial aspects of its history, such as collaboration and antisemitism.
In 2018, PiS introduced the controversial “Holocaust Law,” which criminalised attributing responsibility for Nazi atrocities to “the Polish nation” with a penalty of up to three years in prison or a fine, sparking international condemnation. In 2021, the law was used in civil court for the first time. Holocaust historians were ordered to publicly apologise for a book they had published in 2018 on the history of Jews in occupied Poland. The judge claimed that “ascribing to Poles the crimes of the Holocaust” harmed Polish identity and national pride. This set a dangerous precedent, with historians, researchers, and writers now overly wary of what they publish in order to avoid prosecution. The new government needs to reverse this law, and court ruling, to allow unbiased research to flourish and to restore academic freedom without fear of political repercussions.
The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), a state research institute of modern Polish history that is responsible for education, also fell under PiS’s influence. Despite being formally independent from the government, its budget doubled and its staff increased under PiS, while its president, elected by the Sejm, was granted legal protections against prosecution and removal from office. Critics have claimed that PiS strategically placed loyalists within the IPN and politicised its work, focusing on crimes against Poles while neglecting other aspects of Poland’s history.
Memory politics have been intertwined with what is supposed to be independent academic research. To guarantee and maintain the latter, the IPN president’s legal protections must be dissolved to ensure that a politically-motivated appointee can be removed to protect the institution’s impartiality. PiS appointees should be replaced, and the IPN’s budget reduced until the institution can abide by these principles and publish fair work. Funding should instead be provided to independent universities to do historical research.
PiS also interfered with the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, claiming its original exhibitions did not sufficiently focus on Polish wartime suffering. In 2017, then-Minister of Culture Piotr Gliński removed the museum’s director and appointed in his place a PiS-aligned historian who subsequently changed the exhibitions to promote narratives of Polish heroism, while minimising Polish collaboration and antisemitism.
The Museum of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, still under construction, is also facing criticism for politicising history by avoiding stories of collaboration. Instead, according to Gliński, it will highlight the “mutual love between Poles and Jews.” To prevent another biassed museum, the new government needs to ensure this project will be objective. The discussion must not shy away from the historical truths of war-time collaboration with the Nazis. Tusk’s Minister of Culture, Hanna Wróblewska, is responsible for the appointment of members to the museum council. She must take care to only appoint independent historians and scholars from academic institutions across the globe to ensure the objectivity of the council, and thus the museum’s exhibitions and narrative.
Time for change
There has been one step in the right direction, however. The Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk announced last month that it was planning to discard the changes made under PiS and to reinstate its original exhibitions without the “inaccuracies and errors” that had been added. The move, independent of Tusk’s government, has drawn criticism from even the ruling party. Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz condemned the move on X, arguing that the museum should focus on what unites Poles, not what divides them.
Uniting Poles is an important task, given the political divisions in the country that deepened under PiS. However, this does not justify erasing history that does not correspond with a prescribed narrative. The truth should not be changed to promote victimhood and heroism over facts and events that may reflect dark spots in the nation’s past. Coming to terms with history is an important part of upholding a democratic state. With a new government in power, there is an opportunity to reverse these historical distortions and restore academic freedom and accuracy. The Gdańsk museum’s decision to push back and restore its independence from PiS should inspire Tusk to do the same across other cultural institutions in Poland.
Poland must acknowledge the full spectrum of Polish history, including its darker moments, without the interference of politics. Tusk and his government must repeal the Holocaust Law, restore independence to the IPN, and continue dismantling PiS’s influence on memory politics in museums and other institutions to ensure that history will no longer be filtered.
