Historical Policy Of The Law And Justice Party

The program of the Polish Law and Justice (''PiS'') party has chapters on "identity" (''tożsamość'') and " history policy" (''polityka historyczna'', which has sometimes been translated "literally" as "politics of history")."Is Poland Retreating from Democracy?"
by Elisabeth Zerofsky, July 23, 2018 The implementation of the ''PiS'' history policy consists in promoting, in Poland and internationally, a version of history based on a policy of memory that focuses on protecting the "good name" of the Polish nation.

In the opinion of critics, this policy produces a narrative that Poles were victims and heroes during World War II and the communist era, and victims of crimes comparable to the Holocaust against Jews. Discussion of events that does not fit this narrative (such as of antisemitism in Poland) is labelled as "pedagogy of disgrace." According to the ''PiS'' party, this should be replaced with a "pedagogy of pride" which focuses on positive aspects of Polish history. The party's history policy has divided historians, with some working with ''PiS'' to establish a history policy, seeing it as important to building a shared positive identity and historical truth and justice, while others see it as politicizing history and distorting historical facts.

Background

Jo Harper wrote in 2010 that "the PiS agenda has been clear: Poland will stand up for itself, will look at and raise arguments about things that affected Poles, but will defend against any criticism of Poles in relation to (Polish) Jews, Ukrainians, and other minorities... A central collective theme in this version of the national narrative—one that PiS attempts to exploit—is again of a morally clean nation that witnessed horror but was not an active collaborator in it. There persists a large rump in Polish society, and a series of raw cleavages, both defined by attachment... to the historical narrative of cleanliness. It is precisely along these cleavages and to (and for) this rump that PiS seeks to function, obliging waverers to choose between a patriotic party (PiS) and, by implication, a nonpatriotic one (PO)."

Adam Leszczyński states that, "according to PiS, the source of the profound rift in Polish politics is historical, and dates back at least to the birth of the democratic opposition in the 1970s. Its most important element – the Workers' Defence Committee – grew from left-wing and (to a lesser extent) liberal roots.. he WDCsupposedly formed an alliance with part of the communist authorities in 1989... they upposedlytaught Poles to be ashamed of their own history, for example by exposing events like the massacre in Jedwabne... This 'educating by shaming' served to strengthen their grip on Polish people's minds, teaching them to despise their own heritage... PiS is on a mission to reverse the situation, and a vital component is restoring the truth about the past, to give people genuine dignity and pride in their own glorious history. The movement is therefore revolutionary, conservative and emancipatory, all at the same time..." He clarifies that while "PiS's opponents see this vision of history as proof that the party is obsessed with conspiracies... This version of history is standard for the party in power... and serves as the basis for its political activities regarding history."

Historical policy at the state level

Part of Law and Justice's platform was its historical policy to promote the Polish point of view on the national and international level, its important instrument being the Institute of National Remembrance (INR). After the electoral victory of Law and Justice, the INR focused on crimes against the Polish nation.Ambrosewicz-Jacobs, Jolanta. "The uses and the abuses of education about the Holocaust in Poland after 1989."
Holocaust Studies 25.3 (2019): 329-350. Nikolay Koposov, in his criticism of the history policy in modern Russia notices that in 2000s several post-Soviet Bloc countries, including Poland, started development of new narratives in national histories as part of their search for national identity, with an important aspect being their victimization in history."THE ARMORED TRAIN OF MEMORY": THE POLITICS OF HISTORY IN POST-SOVIET RUSSIA
by Nikolay Koposov, Jan 1, 2011, ''Perspectives on History''

The issue of history politics have risen further when in 2015 it was announced that the works had started on the "Strategy of Polish Historical Policy" ("Strategia Polskiej Polityki Historycznej"). President Andrzej Duda announced that "carrying out the historical policy is one of the most important activities of the president".

Waldemar Brenda of the INR stated that the historical policy should not amount to the manipulation of facts, but to their interpretation, which, while not deviating from the historical truth, would serve the "building of pro-social foundations". Several scholars have criticized the INR for turning in recent years, from objective historical research towards historical revisionism.

"Pedagogy of disgrace"

Any events that do not support the "nationalist vision of history, education, and upbringing", such as antisemitism in Poland, are viewed as part of a "pedagogy of shame" or "pedagogy of disgrace" ( pl, pedagogika wstydu) that must be reinterpreted or ignored. According to Polish nationalists, the "pedagogy of shame" is promoted by the European Union, '' Gazeta Wyborcza'', and liberalism. In 2018, the Polish Teachers' Union stated that the term "pedagogy of shame" has no scholarly basis and should not be used, as it "justif esthe denial of parts of historical knowledge". At the center of the "pedagogy of disgrace" is the Jedwabne pogrom; conclusions of research that the pogrom was carried out by Poles are viewed as an attack on "Polishness, Polish values and traditions, and Polish identity". The party aims to replace "pedagogy of shame" with "pedagogy of pride", defined by Jolanta Ambrosewicz-Jacobs as "emphasizing Polish heroism, the rescue of
Jews and noble behavior during WWII in general". She writes that both concepts "are right-wing rhetoric and do not reflect any established pedagogical concepts"; instead, they reflect "the perception of Poles as an exclusively positive nation, not recognized enough in the world for just and courageous actions".

Members of the ruling party have used the expression. In 2012, after US president Barack Obama mentioned " Polish death camps" in a speech, Jaroslaw Kaczynski stated, "We need to make it clear today ��the end of the pedagogy of shame, the end of this constant expiation of our nation, for whatever reason, self-blame, because this is what makes it easier and even encourages us to do this kind of activity, it causes terrible losses for us." Obama later apologized for using the expression, saying that he misspoke. In 2016, members of PiS called for the reexamination of the Jedwabne and Kielce pogrom