The subject of Róża Luxemburg in Zamość returns – and with it the question of where the boundary between historical memory and the promotion of communist ideology, which for many Poles remains a symbol of enslavement, follows. According to media reports, The city's authorities are planning a conference on "a prominent worker" and re-discover the plaque commemorating her at the birthplace. This plaque was previously removed as part of the decommunization of public space, from the IPN order.
Zamość wants to honor the anti-Polish Communist Rose Luxembourg. The dispute is not new. Already in 2018 decision about the photograph of the commemoration sparked a sharp discussion – any considered it a essential revision of historical policy, others as a manifestation of “barbarbarity” and an effort to erase the complicated past. present we return to the same point, although emotions seem even greater. Supporters of the initiative to honour Luxembourg stress that it was a ‘world-wide format’. Critics remind that it was connected with the revolutionary movement and openly opposed Poland's independence.
It is this second fact that is most controversial. For part of the public, commemoration of a individual who rejected the thought of resurrecting the Polish State is contrary to the historical experience of the country, which fought for over a 100 years to regain its own statehood. Articles critical of the initiative remind us that Luxembourg was a co-creator of revolutionary environments and a symbol of ideology, which was later utilized by PRL propaganda.
However, supporters of her commemoration answer that the communicative "is not black and white". They stress that Luxembourg criticized Lenin and any of the Bolshevik methods, and her intellectual achievements go beyond the stereotypical image of a Communist from the PRL textbooks. This argument goes to highly left-wing academic environments, but does not change the fact that in the Polish collective memory this figure remains heavy charged politically, mainly for its anti-Polish work within the organization Sociallemocracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL).
The biggest problem, however, is something else: the way in which local governments conduct historical debate. Revealing fresh boards or organizing conferences with a clear ideological profile can easy be perceived as an effort to reinterpret past in the spirit of contemporary political disputes. alternatively of building a community of memory, specified actions frequently share it even more. In the case of Zamość, this can be seen peculiarly clearly – any see in the planned ceremony the symbol of openness to different currents of history, another evidence of ignoring the experience of communism.
In a city with as rich heritage as The content of the decisions on symbols in public space should be peculiarly balanced, so as not to give the impression that local identity is subject to ideological fashions from the West, where within the EU the idealization of the ideology of Marxism and internationalism is increasingly re-established.
The discussion about Rose Luxembourg shows more than just a dispute over 1 plaque. This is simply a question of how Poland should tell its communicative – whether through the unreflective honoring of any patrons, or alternatively by a critical look at their achievements and consequences of their ideas. If the planned commemoration takes place, it will become another proof to effort to rewrite the past of Poland again.
A disgrace to the authorities of Zamość that are involved!
We besides recommend: The DA doesn't want to prosecute pedophiles. He prefers to prosecute a writer who has revealed a case