ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what kind of history the study is concerned with, and casts the spotlight on commemorative ceremonies as a link between past and present. It examines those occasions when history impacts on contemporary society, as a prelude to understanding how it impacts on contemporary politics. The chapter investigates the linkage between government legitimacy and the commemorative ceremony. It looks at the evidence that two case studies provide on the issue of commemoration: the re-opening' of the Cmentarz Orlt; and, the sixtieth anniversary of the Volhynian tragedy. In Polish-Ukrainian relations, however, the historian's eye turns to conflicts, and as one would therefore expect, the history or rather the historiography of Polish-Ukrainian relations is punctuated with violent episodes. The chapter presents examples, which illustrate the controversy that surrounds the events of the past in Polish-Ukrainian relations, and its tendency to spill over into the present.
