Suchergebnisse

From the very beginning, the main goals of the Law and Justice (PiS) party were to strengthen the independent existence of the Republic of Poland and the country's international position, as well as to spread patriotic attitudes and strengthen the social and national solidarity of Poles. For party members, the subjects of patriotism and national remembrance were among the key elements in maintaining the national cohesion of Poles, and raising the level of civilization and the quality of life of the entire society. In the external dimension (related to the influence of the past on the image of Poland in the modern world and the shaping of the image of the state and its nation), the party's politics were reduced to a few basic assumptions. The first was to restore the awareness of Polish history and Poland's importance in Europe, as well as to describe and universalize the Polish experience in the international arena as an essential component of the European tradition. The second assumption of PiS's politics of memory was to oppose the attempts to relativize responsibility for the crimes of World War II, as well as to argue with all actions aimed at a moral and historical revision of the position of the Polish state and nation, whether from Germany and, more broadly, from international actors and the Russian Federation. The last assumption of these politics was to build good relations with Israel and the Jewish diaspora, particularly in the United States, which the party leaders perceived as a symbol and guarantee of security, as well as a source of rapid economic development.

Artykuł podejmuje zagadnienie wpływu uwarunkowań historycznych na relacje polsko-rosyjskie u progu XXI w. Dzieje tych dwóch państw łączy wielowiekowa i trudna przeszłość, w wyniku czego powstały między nimi liczne nierozwiązane do końca spory, obciążenia i mity, dające o sobie znać po dzisiejszy dzień. Po upadku w 1989 r. systemu komunistycznego w naszym kraju nowe elity polityczne, kierując procesem przemian demokratycznych w III RP, podjęły starania zmierzające do rozliczenia spornych wątków ze wspólnej polsko-rosyjskiej historii. Na tej drodze wyrównywania dawnych zaszłości lata 2007–2015 obfitowały w ważne wydarzenia, mogące stanowić symbol wspólnego pojednania. Niestety zdarzały się również momenty regresu i głębokiego kryzysu, rzutujące negatywnie na współpracę obu krajów w kwestii rozliczania trudnych kart historii.

The article focuses on the issue of the influence of the historical conditions on the Polish-Russian relations at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. The history of these two countries is linked by a long-lasting and difficult past, and thus numerous unresolved disputes, burdens, and myths arose that have been felt to this day. In 1989, after the fall of the Communist system in our country, new political elites managing the process of democratic changes in the Third Polish Republic made efforts that aimed at settling disputed threads from the common Polish-Russian history. On the way to making up for the past, the period between 1989 and 2007 was marked by a number of important events that could be seen as the symbol of the common reconciliation. Unfortunately, there were also moments of regression and deep crisis that negatively affected the cooperation of both countries in the matter of dealing with difficult cards of the common history. This was influenced by a different approach to the past that is understood differently in Poland and in Russia and that contributed to the emergence of numerous misunderstandings, as well as to the mutual accusations in this field.