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Enforcing the lies From the beginning of this century the politics of memory started to play a prominent role in Poland. This phenomenon was, in part, due to the expectations of the European Union, which pressured its future members to align their understanding of the Shoah with what Western democracies considered the dominant narrative. A narrative which recognised that the Holocaust was not only a German project, that all European nations were also, to some extent, responsible for the Jewish catastrophe. Equally important was the long-­pending desire for prospective EU nations to take stock of their own national pasts, which until recently had been obfuscated, distorted or simply removed from the curriculum by communist authorities. Finally, nationalisms began to grow across Eastern Europe. The Holocaust was, early on, at the centre of Polish memorial policies because it was the only part of Polish history with a universal meaning. Though few people outside of Poland knew anything about Polish history, almost all had heard of Auschwitz. The Holocaust was, therefore, the only part of Polish history that the Polish authorities had no control over. To gain control over the Holocaust narrative has become the main objective of the “history policy ” of the Polish state. In Poland, the pressures of identity politics resulted in the creation of several institutions charged with the development 12 the jewish quarterly
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and enforcement of an official, state-­approved version of national history. Foremost among them was the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, or IPN), established by parliament in 1998. Initially, the mandate of the institution was to look at twentieth-­century crimes committed against the Polish nation and to prosecute people involved with the communist system during the 1944–1989 period. With time, the mandate has been expanded, and now includes the care of enormous archival holdings transferred into the custody of the institute, and educational activities beefed up with a massive research portfolio. The IPN soon went on a shopping spree, hiring hundreds of professional historians; it became the largest producer of historiography in Poland. Nowadays, the IPN, weaponised by the Polish state with a generous budget, and with more than 2500 employees (including 300 with doctoral and professorial titles) has become the major player on the “memorial” field worldwide. It has also become a clear and present threat to the memory of the Holocaust. The IPN, from the very beginning, had a distinctly right-wing tilt (“defending the good name of the nation”) and, not surprisingly, became a refuge for nationalists of various hues. One IPN employee, Wojciech Muszyński, has openly praised the National Radical Camp, or ONR, one of the most militant, rabidly anti­semitic organisations of pre-­war Poland. whitewash 13

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and enforcement of an official, state-­approved version of national history. Foremost among them was the Institute of National Remembrance (Instytut Pamięci Narodowej, or IPN), established by parliament in 1998. Initially, the mandate of the institution was to look at twentieth-­century crimes committed against the Polish nation and to prosecute people involved with the communist system during the 1944–1989 period. With time, the mandate has been expanded, and now includes the care of enormous archival holdings transferred into the custody of the institute, and educational activities beefed up with a massive research portfolio. The IPN soon went on a shopping spree, hiring hundreds of professional historians; it became the largest producer of historiography in Poland. Nowadays, the IPN, weaponised by the Polish state with a generous budget, and with more than 2500 employees (including 300 with doctoral and professorial titles) has become the major player on the “memorial” field worldwide. It has also become a clear and present threat to the memory of the Holocaust.

The IPN, from the very beginning, had a distinctly right-wing tilt (“defending the good name of the nation”) and, not surprisingly, became a refuge for nationalists of various hues. One IPN employee, Wojciech Muszyński, has openly praised the National Radical Camp, or ONR, one of the most militant, rabidly anti­semitic organisations of pre-­war Poland.

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