The Decline of Antifascism: The Memory Struggle over May 1945 in the Polish Parliament (1995–2015)

Abstract

The article discusses a shift, of the paradigm structuring Polish official memory of World War II and the state-socialist period from antifascist to anticommunist, that took place in the post-1989 Polish parliament. Based on the example of the political struggle in parliament over the memory of May 1945 (Victory Day) that occurred on three consecutive major anniversaries of this event (1995, 2005, and 2015), the article shows how the right-wing post-Solidarity camp dismantled and eliminated the antifascist narrative that was based on a symbolic continuity between 1945 and 1995–2005, respectively, and was promoted by the postcommunists, replacing it with a primarily anticommunist narrative about “two totalitarianisms,” founded on a symbolic continuity between 1939 and 1989. Within this new paradigm, May 1945 was made into a merely formal commemorative point of reference devoid of any symbolic power.