The memory politics of Cursed Soldiers, antisemitism and racialisation
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Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between racism and the memory politics of the anti-communist underground in Poland. It explores a covert antisemitism behind the conservative nationalist hegemonic project of transforming the anti-communist underground into the ideologically charged symbol of the Cursed Soldiers. It demonstrates that under the conditions of the condemnation of antisemitism, the symbolism of the Cursed Soldiers has become a covert way of expressing anti-Jewish prejudice in hegemonic memory politics. The paper argues that this covert antisemitism must be seen in the broader context of historical racialised antisemitism and racialised structures of Polish national identity. The paper challenges the notion of Poland as a country free from racism, by unpacking the role of racialisation in the dominant understanding of Polishness. It demonstrates how the memory politics of the Cursed Soldiers fit into the racialised logic of the dominant ideology of Polish national identity.
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Antisemitism Holocaust Holocaust Commemoration Main Topic: Antisemitism Memory National Identity Nationalism
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Link to article including link to pdf, The memory politics of Cursed Soldiers, antisemitism and racialisation
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The memory politics of Cursed Soldiers, antisemitism and racialisation. 2023: https://archive.jpr.org.uk/10.1111/nana.12937
