Jaka pamięć Polski Ludowej jest nam potrzebna?

Abstract

Collective memory is never monolithic; through its involvement in culture, numerous relations to the present, it is a conglomerate of different types of beliefs, sometimes mutually complementary, sometimes conflicting. Such is also the case of the memory of the People’s Republic of Poland (PRL). The aim of this paper is critical analysis of the two forms of memory of the PRL that are dominant in public discourse. One is called by the author „accusing memory” while the other is „nostalgic-ironic memory”. Each has its particular characteristics, reflected in its characteristic language and symbols, each refers to a different axiology and tries to conceptualize the main threads of the memory of the People’s Republic of Poland in a different way and, finally, each is addressed to a different audience. Since both memory formulas have their limitations, raise doubts and do not allow for sufficient „taming” „working”, „overcoming” that historical experience of the People’s Republic of Poland that several generations of Poles had to face, the author proposes a different concept of memory in their place: „conciliatory memory”. It is based on the idea of intergenerational dialogue, gives an opportunity to „depoliticize” the past and a possibility to include various perspectives in the creation of the proposed, multi-dimensional image of the People’s Republic of Poland.