‘An Unexploded Mine’: Explaining the Sources of the Contemporary Memory Conflict between Poland and Ukraine

Abstrakt

The text contains an analysis of concepts explaining the sources of the contemporary Polish-Ukrainian memory conflict in the international context. The memory conflict between Poland and Ukraine remains the persistent factor destabilizing their cooperation since the 1989–91 watershed. It should be examined in the full breadth of their memory politics, alongside their policies towards the West and Russia. Explanations of the conflict’s origins either deal exclusively with selected aspects of it or are holistic but give preference to one of the two perspectives. Georgiy Kasianov’s approach treats politics of memory as primarily top-down, thus exaggerating the role of state authorities and nationalist actors and underrating the community building aspects of historical narratives and societal needs. Oleksandr Grytsenko’s approach emphasizes the importance of bottom-up actors, but authenticizes in its own way social expectations and underestimates the influence of nationalist narratives. An additional source of memory conflicts—the vying for high status by states—is revealed by Michał Łuczewski’s theory of mnemonic moral capital. Using its assumptions as groundwork, circumstantiating Polish policy—which has exacerbated the memory conflict with Ukraine—becomes possible. Studies of international memory conflicts in the region should combine elements of multiple approaches; their results should also be confronted with comparative research on the historical cultures of each individual state.