ABSTRACT
The political geography of transition countries is shaped by post-communist parties, the legacies they have left behind, and the internal reform processes that they are undertaking. When analyzing the birth of post-communist parties one has to be mindful of avoiding sweeping generalizations. Unlike their predecessors these parties are now without external sustenance. The manner in which post-communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe attempt to confront legacies of the past in their country’s respective history is one of the most telling indicators of these organizations’ willingness to reconstruct and redefine themselves. The legacies of the past are most explicitly addressed in two highly charged events of Polish history: the Katyn forest massacre in Byelorussia in 1940, and the attempt to assess General Wojciech Jaruzelski’s responsibility - let alone - guilt for the imposition of martial law on 13 December 1981.
