““Either we betray our heritage and our service to the Polish nation, or we do what we have to do in the name of patriotism, by maintaining communication between generations,” says Prof. Jan Żaryn in an interview with wPolityce.pl, commenting on the current historical policy of the government. According to him, liberal historians do not fulfill their mission of preserving the identity of the nation. They support anti-Polish activities, especially in confrontation with German historical policy. “The Germans need to be constantly reminded of how far they have sunk by adopting pagan racism during the Second World War as their ideology,” says Prof. WPolityce.pl. Zaryn.
wPolityce.pl portal: With the change of government, the historical policy of the state also changed. A large group of historians has spoken out against the “brutal destruction of memory”, and, among other things, does not like the activities of the management of the Museum of the Second World War. What is this dispute about?
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Prof. Jan Zaryn: This is an attack on the Polish historical policy, which has been conducted by the democratically elected government in recent years. For this purpose, he used the institutions of the Polish state responsible for the image of Poland and the institutions tasked with raising and educating the Polish nation. If we look at this attack from this perspective, the most disturbing thing is that the management of the Museum of the Second World War and Prof. Paweł Machcewicz received the support of historians who are authentic authorities of Polish science. I mean the historians who sent a special letter in support of the current management of the museum. Our letter is a polemic with this part of the historical community. They just think that they are not responsible for educating the Polish nation and for shaping the Polish historical policy. They are responsible for this because it flows from our profession. It anchors the missionary character of educating a nation whose identity is based on the past. Historians are responsible for connecting the past with contemporary generations. They create the contemporary Polish historical policy.
Can this mission of historians be defended in today’s reality?
We believe that there can be no compromise here with the attitude of historians, who are parties to a clear civilisational conflict. They bear the task of creating contemporary historical policy and clearly fit into the contemporary doctrine that weakens the right of Christians and the entire Christian heritage to be present in Europe. What was done in the Museum of the Second World War is an example of the elimination of Catholicism from the European intellectual, socio-cultural and even civilisational scene. Unfortunately, this liberal community of historians fits into the current historical policy of the state authorities. It is characterised by servility towards the tendencies that dominate in the European Union. An example of these trends is the 2017 exhibition on the history of Europe, organised in the premises of the European Parliament, which ignored its Christian roots. When they claim that they are not pursuing historical politics, they refer to this point of reference.
This means that we are dealing with the destruction of the identity of the Polish nation, which is inextricably linked with Christianity, and even with Catholicism.
This is an anti-Polish activity that aims to tear us away from our beliefs and heritage. The point is to prevent conservative circles from educating, educating and training the Polish nation. This is the whole complex of revolutionary activities that are currently being carried out in Poland. For the time being, their inhibitor is President Andrzej Duda. However, if our communities lose the presidential elections next year, it will soon become apparent that these actions will be even more powerful. The entire Christian national heritage will be called “hate speech.”
A few days ago, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who visited Poland, apologized and asked for forgiveness for the crimes of World War II. How much are his words worth?
This is a simple sentence performed as part of a certain celebration. It was a superficial apology, without any reference to the image on which the subject of the apology was depicted. No indication of what kind of crimes were committed against the Polish nation. Without indicating the wide range of repressions to which we were subjected by the German occupier. Concentration camps, planned murder of Polish elites and many other serious repressions affecting the daily life of the occupation: roundups, deportations for forced labor, expulsion from the occupied territories that were part of the Third German Reich. Of course, under the leadership of the greatest criminal act, namely genocide. There are many such crimes that can be mentioned, among which the crime in Pomerania and particularly heinous crimes against Polish children, among which: an attempt to Germanize them.
In Europe, there is little talk about this past of the Germans. Some even encourage Berlin to ‘take the future of the countries in our region back into its own hands.
The Germans must be constantly reminded of how far they have sunk by adopting pagan racism as their ideology during World War II. All this is not included in the speeches of German representatives. There is a superficial “I am sorry” for this, without any real understanding of their own crimes. This behavior of German President Steinmeier is deliberate and implies the fulfillment of specific tasks. Germany is in no way interested in making amends for these crimes. Otherwise, they would have to think about the definition of justice. They do not have to do this, especially when the current government of Donald Tusk, as part of its current historical policy, itself gave up reparations – without asking the Poles, for example, by a referendum. As a result of this historical policy, Polish-German relations will blur the line between the perpetrators of crimes and their victims, both externally and internally. Polish-German relations will be in line with the words of Gdańsk Vice President Piotr Grzelak about “a bad word from a Pole against another nation and a German against another nation.” Gdańsk Vice President even admitted that his widely understood environment supports such a Polish historical policy.
Is the statement by a group of scholars in defense of Poland’s historical policy an attempt to raise awareness in society of the dangerous actions taken by the ruling elite today?
As historians, we must realize that our profession is unique. No matter what we say, we are always building the identity of the modern Polish nation and we are responsible for it. Therefore, we either betray our heritage and our service to the Polish nation, or in the name of patriotism we contribute our share by maintaining communication between generations. I am afraid that there are many historians in our profession, and technically very good ones, who for various reasons do not want to accept this. They pretend that they are conducting their professional biography according to a wishful and in fact untrue key. Meanwhile, every historian sooner or later is responsible for which side he will take. Whether it is building the heritage of his own nation or those who want to take it away. Destroy our identity and uniqueness.
Despite this enormous responsibility, Germany does not change its historical policy, nor do the Polish authorities.
Through a very well-executed historical policy, Germany will blur the responsibility for the Second World War. This responsibility of the German people was transferred to the shoulders of a few “Nazis”. The effect of this procedure is that in the pan-European history of the Second World War, the Germans have become the authors of all opinions. On the one hand, shameful as Nazis, but on the other hand, an attitude that shows pan-European resistance. Symbols that were intended to describe the history of Europe were appropriated by the German side. One such symbol has become: Stauffenberg. The Germans can skillfully introduce these symbols so that there is no room for competition. This pan-European character of German history is a manifestation of their imperialism, which has been known for centuries. From a Polish perspective, this is unacceptable. For us, Stauffenberg is above all a German occupier who entered Poland in 1939 and was brought up in the spirit of German racism. He spoke of Poland in terms of a racially inferior community that had to be managed to give Germany some advantage. He treats us as slaves managed by a superior race. His individual fate and attack on Hitler are the result of German patriotism. A group of German conspirators came to the conclusion that they had to find a way to save Germany, since it expected to lose the war; they were saving the Third Reich. The Germans see Stauffenberg as a patriot who is concerned with German interests, not with the fate of the Jews and Poles who have been murdered over the years. However, this interest does not necessarily apply to all of Europe, let alone Poland.
Germany promotes Stauffenberg, and the management of the Museum of the Second World War removes from the exhibition the most enlightened figures of our recent history, who deny the ideology professed by this Nazi.
Captain Witold Pilecki, Father Maksymilian Kolbe and the Ulma family are figures who defend our Polish identity. They cannot disturb any exhibition space, textbook space or any story about the Polish history of the Second World War. If the management of the Museum of the Second World War and Prof. Paweł Machcewicz claim that these figures disturb them, the question must be asked whether this exhibition is really Polish? Perhaps it was created by another entity that has a different historical policy. There is no permission for these characters not to present an authentic and identity sign of Polishness. By recalling the figure of Stauffenberg, we also answer the question of where the capital of this exhibition is located.
Thank you for the conversation.
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Source: wPolityce
Emma Matthew is a political analyst for “Social Bites”. With a keen understanding of the inner workings of government and a passion for politics, she provides insightful and informative coverage of the latest political developments.