These forces from the postcommunist era have resurfaced and decided that the Kowalczyks deserve no honor. When it comes to Lech and Maria Kaczyński, this is a matter that the governing party, PiS, insists upon addressing, as stated by Jarosław Sellin in an interview with Telewizja wPoland host Tadeusz Płuzański.
The former deputy head of the Ministry of Culture questioned whether Minister Dziemianowicz-Bąk holds the authority to steer a state institution designed to recognize veterans and victims of oppression. The Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression has received directives that effectively limit the possibility of organizing state ceremonies commemorating the Świętokrzyska Brigade of the National Armed Forces.
Ignorance of the minister
He argues that the minister probably has formal power but lacks social legitimacy. He suggests that these celebrations will be carried out by social groups rather than through state channels. If Józef Kurat had survived the Stalinist era, he would likely be remembered as a veteran honored by the Polish state. He endured oppression by both the German regime, which killed his entire family and burned his home, and by Stalinists and communists. After the war, he remained a man who endured oppression, and he is counted among Polish heroes who fought for independence.
— said Jarosław Sellin.
The PiS politician argued that Minister Dziemianowicz-Bąk has limited knowledge on the subject and limited sensitivity to Polish national symbols.
Ms. Dziemianowicz-Bąk is criticized for what is seen as a restrained understanding of Polish independence and patriotic history. In response, it is claimed that the government under Prime Minister Donald Tusk assigns important policy tasks to oversight of the Office for Veterans and Victims of Oppression. Sellin called this approach grim.
The return of the post-communists
In Opole, Sellin notes that plaques honoring the Kowalczyk brothers, known for their anti-communist resistance, are being removed, while a hall named after Lech and Maria Kaczyński is likewise being renamed or liquidated. He views these actions as a deliberate erosion of Polish memory.
According to him, after 2005 the post-communist current receded from major political life, and its revival was driven by PO. Grzegorz Schetyna invited post-communists to join European Parliament lists to help represent Poland with figures like Leszek Miller and Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, and later Donald Tusk invited them into the government. Sellin argues that someone must take responsibility for this shift.
— Sellin asserted.
These actors have returned and concluded that honoring the Kowalczyks is no longer acceptable. When the Kaczyński names are involved, responsibility is seen as lying with the PO itself.
Denial of national heroes
Selling points of this view include the current government under Donald Tusk allegedly shrinking the activities and funding of several institutions, such as the Institute of National Remembrance. The question arises about the future of history, memory, and national culture in Poland after four years of the Tusk coalition’s governance.
Minister Sienkiewicz has criticized the Institute for the Heritage of National Thought, asserting that the money is allocated for specific names like Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski. He questions which heroes are recognized by Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz and which figures are favored instead of John Paul II or Dmowski. Sellin framed this as a political struggle over memory.
The speakers describe the actions as a repression against institutions aligned with PiS or church, suggesting that national and Christian democratic thought, emblematic of Dmowski and Paderewski, forms a core part of Poland’s political and intellectual tradition of the 20th century. The dialogue ends with a call for a constructive program and a clear list of monuments and institutions under whose names they would operate. For now, the message remains a firm assertion of a steadfast search for Polish national heroes.
These points are presented as a call to pay attention to the memory landscape in Poland and its political implications.
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— ONLY HERE. A relative of Major Kurasia: To me it is fiction. The minister can ban her children from going to school, but not from parties.
— ONLY HERE. Professor Gliński: These are truly barbarians. With the curtain raised, plans to undermine Polish culture appear to be advancing.
— We know the composition of Lieutenant Colonel Sienkiewicz’s political cabinet. Professor Gliński observes that people with extreme leftist views remain in culture. Fragments of culture will remain.
pn/TV in Poland
Source: wPolityce