Jo Harper on clarifying Polans's past

Writer Jo Harper wonders whether Poland needs a "reality check" about its history. "Poland's central collective narrative is of a morally clean nation that has witnessed horror but not been its collaborator. If there is a single thread to this narrative it is the notion that Poland is untainted by the Holocaust. The standard denials of culpability in pogroms and purges of Jews during or after the war, however, have been slowly unwinding since the 2001 publication of a book called 'Neighbors' by Jan Gross. ... Collective historical memories now seem to be flowing all at once and that collective memory appears to be split. ... And then there's the issue of dealing with Poland's communist past and the long-awaited trial of General Jaruzelski. The Jaruzelski case is partially linked to a broader campaign known in Poland as 'lustracja' (lustration, an eerie echo of earlier 'cleansings') initiated by the Kaczynski twins, the key players in the Law and Justice (PiS) party ... that lost power at last September's elections."

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