Ideology and Truth
The Hitler-Stalin Pact in Poland's Historical Memory
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The Hitler-Stalin pact plays a pre-eminent role in Polish memory. This was not always the case. In the People's Republic of Poland, historians loyal to the party line spread the Soviet reading of the Treaty of Non-aggression as a smart move that laid the basis for victory in the war. For ideological reasons, the secret protocol was taboo. Today, Poles associate the pact with the experience of powerlessness vis-à-vis a conspiracy of partitioning powers and the feeling of being left in the lurch by allies.
(Osteuropa 7-8/2009, pp. 279–294)