ABSTRACT
Every revolution has its “big bang” event and the grand symbols of the revolutionary collective effervescence that establish it as a historic occurrence. But it is also the case that revolutions generate a series of paradoxical counter-movements that might be described as post-revolutionary nostalgia for the “ancien regime.” The key research question that this chapter aims to answer is why the nostalgia follows the euphoric rejection of the system? Again, a comparative perspective that juxtaposes Berlin and Warsaw helps explain some of the general cultural imperatives and place-specific meanings that indicate why post-revolutionary nostalgia “made sense,” how and why its expressions differed between the two countries, and what makes it enduringly relatable, even if it at first seems counterintuitive.
