The day of remembrance of the “Cursed Soldiers”: commemorative practices in contemporary poland

Abstract

Since 1 March 2011 Poland has marked the National Day of Remembrance of the „Cursed Soldiers” (Narodowy Dzień Pamięci “Żołnierzy Wyklętych”) — members of the anti-Communist underground in the 1940s and 1950s who tried to prevent Poland’s sovietisation and subordination to the USSR. The idea of establishing such a state memorial day was expressed in 2010 by Lech Kaczyński, the then President of Poland and one of the leaders of the Law and Justice Party (L&J). During the debates on the Bill of the National Day of Remembrance in the Sejm, the deputies of the two main opposing parties voted in favour almost unanimously and the Senate approved it without making any changes. After President Bronisław Komorowski signed it on 1 March 2011, Poland acquired an additional state holiday. In 2015, after the Law and Justice Party won both the presidential and parliamentary elections, the issue of the „cursed soldiers” turned into one of the key questions in historical policy. The „Civic Platform” party, forced to move over to the opposition benches in parliament, sounded the alarm, accusing the L&J party of rewriting history and primitivising the image of the anti-Communist underground. Thus, the memory of the “cursed soldiers” transformed from an issue that united political opponents to a topic for arguments and political struggle. The article attempts to show how the L&J party used the preservation of the memory of the “cursed soldiers” for its own political purposes, including its fight against the opposition.

Keywords

• „law and justice” party
• „civic platform” party
• „cursed soldiers”
• armia krajowa
• historical policy
• commemoration
• institute of national remembrance in poland
• witold pilecki