Wielka Brytania wobec sprawy katyńskiej za rządów Margaret Thatcher

Abstract

The paper focuses on the attitude of the British government towards the Katyn massacre of 1940 under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership. The aim of the article is an in‑depth analysis of this attitude and the identification of the factors shaping it. The comparison of Margaret Thatcher’s governments’ attitude to the massacre with the previous British policy, especially as to the question of the responsibility for the crime and the way the victims should be commemorated, accounts for an important element of the paper’s conclusions. The article dissects political, legal, moral and symbolic dimensions of the issue in order to present the problem in a comprehensive way. For this purpose the historical background of “the fight for the truth about Katyn” was included as well. By showing the broader Cold War relations context, the article presents the key international aspect of the British policy towards the Katyn massacre.

Keywords

• zbrodnia katyńska
• rządy Margaret Thatcher
• stosunki polsko-brytyjskie