The Past in the Present: The Construction of Polish History (Eastern European Culture, Politics and Societies) - Hardcover

Traba, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 3631640471 ISBN 13: 9783631640470

Publisher: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2015

Synopsis

What do we remember from our national past and why? What are the dangers of history being (mis-)appropriated by politicians? Past in the Present provides a critical analysis of recent disputes over Polish historiography. The author uses theories of collective memory as a guideline, and the Polish-German borderlands as his leitmotif. Western academic currents and long-standing (and often forgotten) Polish intellectual traditions serve as backdrop. Throughout his work – with topics ranging from Golo Mann and Stefan Czarnowski to the «other side of memory» and the «political cult of the fallen» – Traba advocates modernization and «polyphony» in the construction of a new Polish history.

About this title

About the Author:

Robert Traba is a Polish historian with broad interests in collective memory, applied history, and regional history, above all in the Polish-German borderlands. In 1990 he founded the Cultural Community Borussia in Olsztyn (Poland), whose focus is the regional history of Warmia/Masuria. Since 2006 he has been director of the Centre for Historical Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Berlin.

Review:

«[...] the book is an invaluable resource for international scholars seeking to become familiar with some of the "greatest hits" of recent Polish memory research.»
(Ela Rossmiller, Pol-Int 2018)

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About this edition

• Publisher: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 3631640471
• ISBN 13: 9783631640470
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 333