ABSTRACT

This volume presents various aspects of public history practices in Poland, alongside their historical development and theoretical reflections on public history.

Despite a long tradition and variety of forms of public history, the very term "public history", or literally speaking "history in the public sphere", has been in use in Poland only since the 2010s. This edited collection contains chapters that focus on numerous practices and media forms in public history including historical memory, heritage tourism, historical re-enactments, memes and graphic novels, films, archives, archaeology and oral history. As such, the volume brings together the Polish experiences to wider international audiences and shares Polish controversies related to public history within the academic discourse, beyond media news and politically engaged commentaries. Furthermore, it sheds crucial light on the developments of collective memory, historical and political debates, the history of Poland and East-Central Europe, and the politics of post-World War Two and post-communist societies.

Authored by a team of academic historians and practitioners from the field, Public History in Poland is the perfect resource for students from a variety of disciplines including Public History, Heritage, Museum Studies, Anthropology, and Archaeology.

chapter |11 pages

Introduction

Public History in Poland

part I|108 pages

Public History and Politics

chapter 1|15 pages

Public History and Politics of History

The Case of Poland in Central Europe: 1989–2015

chapter 2|20 pages

Towards the Ideal Vision of the Twentieth-Century Polish History

On the Post-2015 Polish Politics of History

chapter 3|17 pages

New Historical Museums in Poland

chapter 5|16 pages

The Role of Memorial Sites in Public History

The Case of Auschwitz State Museum

chapter 6|19 pages

National Pride and Echoes of Local Identity

Public History in Silesian Towns

part II|68 pages

Public History and Research

chapter 7|15 pages

Oral History in Poland

chapter 8|17 pages

Polish Archives

Old and New and Their Role as Public History Institutions

chapter 9|18 pages

Book Publishers as Public Historians

The Polish Case

part III|57 pages

Public History and Leisure

chapter 12|12 pages

Polandball

Memes and Graphic Novels as Public History

chapter 14|14 pages

Gaming the Polish Past

Case Study of Kolejka (The Queue)