Deployments of Memory with the Tools of Law – the Case of Poland

IF 0.5 4区社会学 Q3 LAW

Review of Central and East European Law Pub Date : 2019-12-04 DOI:10.1163/15730352-04404002

Aleksandra Gliszczyńska-Grabias

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Abstract

Recent invocations of the past in the service of ideology, based to a large extent on nationalistic motives, are a particularly disturbing phenomenon in the area of the European “duty to remember” and memory laws. One of the most telling examples of this trend was Polish legislation introduced in January 2018 (partly repealed in June 2018) that penalized defamation of the Polish State and the Polish Nation by claiming their responsibility or co-responsibility for crimes committed by German Nazis in occupied Poland. Although the idea of opposing the falsification of history appears valid, the structure of the law left room for also bringing to trial those daring to ask uncomfortable questions challenging the heroic vision of Poland’s past. This article claims that legal provisions such as the Polish law represent a dangerous tool of strengthening the feeling of national community understood very narrowly and limited to one nationally, religiously and ethnically homogeneous group. This approach is directly connected with promulgation of the narrative of a “besieged castle”, which defends itself against “the Other” and demands indisputable recognition for its past sufferings. The reasons, mechanisms and consequences of recent implementation in Poland of legal and political discourse regarding the past, are discussed here.

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运用法律工具运用记忆——波兰案例

最近在很大程度上基于民族主义动机的为意识形态服务的对过去的援引，在欧洲“记忆义务”和记忆法领域是一个特别令人不安的现象。这一趋势最能说明问题的例子之一是2018年1月出台的波兰立法(2018年6月部分被废除)，该立法对声称对德国纳粹在被占领的波兰犯下的罪行负有责任或共同责任的诽谤波兰国家和波兰民族的行为进行处罚。尽管反对篡改历史的想法似乎是有效的，但法律的结构也给那些敢于提出令人不安的问题，挑战波兰过去的英雄形象的人留下了审判的空间。该条声称，诸如波兰法律之类的法律规定是加强民族共同体感情的一种危险工具，这种感情的理解非常狭隘，仅限于一个民族、宗教和种族同质的群体。这种做法与传播“被围困的城堡”的叙事直接相关，它为自己辩护，反对“他者”，并要求对其过去的苦难给予无可争辩的承认。关于过去的法律和政治话语最近在波兰实施的原因，机制和后果，在这里讨论。

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来源期刊

Review of Central and East European Law LAW-

CiteScore

0.90

自引率

0.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Review of Central and East European Law critically examines issues of legal doctrine and practice in the CIS and CEE regions. An important aspect of this is, for example, the harmonization of legal principles and rules; another facet is the legal impact of the intertwining of domestic economies, on the one hand, with regional economies and the processes of international trade and investment on the other. The Review offers a forum for discussion of topical questions of public and private law. The Review encourages comparative research; it is hoped that, in this way, additional insights in legal developments can be communicated to those interested in questions, not only of law, but also of politics, economics, and of society of the CIS and CEE countries.