Culture of tolerance and historical memory: the collision of opposites in modern Polish society

Abstract

Modern European society today is often presented as homogenous and united by highly valued law and tolerance. These values are often contrasted in mainstream media with conservatism, religiosity, xenophobia, and marginalization, which are common in the societies of the Middle East, Africa, and even in the Post-Soviet space. Nevertheless, an appeal to the analysis of regional European social and political practices demonstrates pronounced specifics of the development of individual states-members of the European Union. This article focuses on the situation in the Republic of Poland after it joined the EU in 2004. It is significant that, having initially joined the integration process on conditions common to the European Union, over time and under the influence of economic and migration crises, Poland, in recent years, is steadily moves away from the tolerant European tradition. This is firstly reflected in political rhetoric which boils down to populist thesis, such as statements about the inadmissibility of accepting migrants, Christianity as the basis of social relations, saving traditional Europe, etc. At the same time, political populism in Poland is not groundless. It is rooted in powerful social support, which, in turn, is based on the forms of historical memory of the Poles associated with the history of their state in the XX century and in an earlier historical period. Many political and military crises of Polish history have created a powerful potential for intolerance towards various national and ethnic groups, including Jews, Roma, Ukrainians, Russians, Germans, etc. It is these forms of historican xenophobia that begin to resonate within the Polish national consciousness, contrasting traditional Polish society with the ideas of tolerance and dialogue in the face of modern problems of European integration.