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Westerplatte - young people fight for the historical memory

04.09, 2007 14:30

redakcja

On last Saturday Poland marks the 68th anniversary of the outbreak of World War 2. Official celebrations took place in Westerplatte and also in Wieluń - the first city bombed by German Luftwaffe.

But not only official speeches are the expressions of World War 2 memory. From a few years, the great work in the case of commemoration the war, polish soldiers and heroes is done. Great part of this activities is being organised by the young people.

westerplatte_rekonstrukcja.jpgStowarzyszenie Rekonstrukcji Historycznej Wojskowej Składnicy Tranzytowej na Westerplatte (The Association of Historical Reconstruction of Military Transit Depot in Westerplatte) have inspired some changes in the museum of Westerplatte and all the historical territory of depot. All unhistorical elements will be removed from it (with the soviet tank on the first place). The military park (with the polish army’s historical equipment and weapons) is planned, as well as reconstructions of the historical buildings. The live history projects will be developed too.

Young people from the Association have inspired officials to find finance for their projects and the first changes will be realized soon. They become official hosts and guards of contemporary Westerplatte.

Photo from Vortal Westerplatte

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Komentarze

Mark Stoneman

15:38

This post and the one about the Warsaw Uprising Museum suggest that there is a powerful connection between the Second World War and Polish national identity. Is this impression accurate? (I do not know Polish, and I have never been to Poland, so my knowledge is sketchy at best.)

mw

1:04

It is hard to say because it depends on the part of the society - older people have stronger connection to the war, younger - look mostly for the future. But success of the Warsaw Uprising Museum shows that II WW can be important for them. If you look into the history of the war you can very easy find how it can be so important for Poles - after the September 1939 there was no country and the nation was gathered by nazi Germany and Soviets with no right to live like a free people (with no right to have schools, literature, press, culture, own economy etc.). It is obvious. So - as a reaction for that memories - the war must have become a factor which unite a nation. You can see it even during the war - the Warsaw Uprising was supported by majority of underground organizations, which normally had a strong political antagonism (like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSZ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armia_Krajowa). I don’t know how the second world war today can unite Poles - I think it can be seen as a some kind of common experience, common tradition with defining “who I am” and affecting on the image of contemporary Germany and Russia - but of course it is only a one factor, maybe today not as strong as it was in the past. In my opinion Russians have with this case more problems because of the Stalin (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2821573.stm). The old communist propaganda describing Stalin as a “good father of the nation” is still in use as a national bonder.

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