The book aims to reconstruct and analyze the disputes over the Polish-Jewish past and memory in public debates in Poland between 1985 and 2012. The analysis includes the course and dynamics of the debates and, most importantly, the panorama of opinions revealed in the process.

Die Reihe "Geschichte - Erinnerung - Politik. Posener Studien zur Geschichts-, Kultur- und Politikwissenschaft" umfasst Publikationen, die sich im weitesten Sinn mit Erinnerungskultur aus polnischer Perspektive befassen. Die Serie verfolgt das Ziel, dem Leser die Leistungen vieler wissenschaftlicher Disziplinen vor Augen zu führen, u. a. der Geschichtswissenschaft, der Soziologie, der Anthropologie, der Kulturwissenschaft, der Literaturwissenschaft, der Politikwissenschaft und der Philosophie.

The book examines ways in which Germans struggle with the Nazi past. It is a reflection upon the reasons why German reckoning with the past became a process of contradictions and shows the specific character of German collective memory in relation to the helplessness and moral condition of a nation defending itself in the face of unimaginable evil.

Using different methods and representing various academic disciplines, the authors of this anthology analyse Polish memory of the Nazi and Stalinist occupations, which are key components of Polish collective identity. The book presents the shape and social conditions of this memory as well as the conflicts and dilemmas related to it.

This second of three parts of the History of the Polish Intelligentsia analyses the growing importance of the intelligentsia in the epoch marked by the triumph of Polish romanticism. The stress is put on the debates of the position of intelligentsia in the society, as well as on tensions between great romantic ideas and realities of everyday life.