Wóycicka reconstructs Polish controversies surrounding the memory and commemoration of Nazi concentration camps in the initial postwar years and describes how these debates were silenced under Stalinism. Using comparisons with other European countries, she explores which phenomena were specific for Poland and which had a broad character.

The book presents an ethnographic study of ways in which communism is remembered in contemporary Poland. It follows two groups of people engaged in memory politics in one Polish town – the former anti-communist activists and the former officers of the repressive regime. It shows the processes of reconstruction of their memories and subjectivities.

This book is a thorough analysis of Marxist-Leninist historiographies in East Central Europe. It covers the period of Stalinism, from the late 1940s up to the early 1960s. The author’s main interest lies in the Marxists’ attitudes towards the traditions of German, Polish, Czech, and Slovak national movements and historiographies.