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Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

Politics of the past: the use and abuse of history - Socialists ...

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Loaded<br />

At <strong>the</strong> wall demarcating <strong>the</strong> square <strong>and</strong> at <strong>the</strong> now almost empty<br />

shipyards, plaques ask attention for <strong>the</strong> fate <strong>of</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r victims; Fa<strong>the</strong>r<br />

Jerzy Popiełuszko, murdered by <strong>the</strong> regime in December 1984 –<br />

now widely appearing on billboards in Pol<strong>and</strong>, announcing a movie<br />

documenting his life <strong>and</strong> death – victims from <strong>the</strong> period <strong>of</strong> Martial<br />

Law under Jaruzelski <strong>and</strong> so more.<br />

Less than hundred meters from this historic place, <strong>history</strong> can be<br />

seen on a building from which <strong>the</strong> last white paint is peeling <strong>of</strong>f. In<br />

faded letters, <strong>the</strong> façade tells that this place was once a German<br />

delicatessen shop where in better times precious <strong>and</strong> expensive<br />

colonial goods were sold. Ano<strong>the</strong>r fifty meters from <strong>the</strong>re a hoarding<br />

announces in airbrushed graffiti letters ‘memory is a loaded gun’,<br />

just making clear why <strong>the</strong> PES-group ga<strong>the</strong>red in Gdansk.<br />

Gdansk may read as a <strong>history</strong> book, but everybody with some experience<br />

in reading knows that between <strong>the</strong> lines ano<strong>the</strong>r truth may be<br />

found. Each reader is inclined to fill <strong>the</strong> gaps between <strong>the</strong> words <strong>and</strong><br />

lines with his own experience, his own memory. From memory to <strong>history</strong>,<br />

however, leads a path which is only passable with difficulty.<br />

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