Historical politics of the Polish People’s Republic in the Russian historiography of the XXI century

Introduction. The article is devoted to the development of the Russian historiography of the study of the historical politics of the Polish People’s Republic. The author considers that the transformation of this historiographical field was inextricably linked, firstly, with the formation of an interdisciplinary field of collective memory research in Russia, and secondly, with the stable institutional cooperation of Russian and Polish scientists.

Materials and Methods. Using the essays of Russian authors specializing in the issues of historical politics, the main problem blocks are identified.

Analysis. It is noted that the commemorative trends in the Polish Republic were analyzed through the prism of the concept of «anniversary», the confrontation between state power and the Catholic Church, as well as through the study of educational policy in the field of historical knowledge. The diversification of the research field of memory studies in the 2010s contributed to the expansion of the set of subjects suitable for analysis from the point of view of politics of memory. The author notes that the comparative analysis of Polish historical politics was carried out by Russian historians from two different approaches, one of which included placing the problem in the pan–European context of the formation of historical narratives, the other assumed a broader consideration of the issue, including the analysis of non-European plots. The Commission of Historians of Russia and Poland is singled out as a key institutional core of Russian historiography, which for a long time carried out projects aimed at studying various aspects of memorial management of the Polish People’s Republic.

Results. It is concluded that the urgent task of Russian specialists can be considered, on the one hand, the further development of specific commemorative projects of the Polish government and the analysis of transformations of its memorial management, on the other, the obstacle to any autarchic trends in historiography and the restoration of networking with Polish and other foreign colleagues.

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