Towards A New Kind Of Legitimacy? Jan Gross’s Neighbors And Poland’s Reckoning With The Past
Towards A New Kind Of Legitimacy? Jan Gross’s Neighbors And Poland’s Reckoning With The Past

Summary/Abstract: This article discusses the controversy surrounding Jan Gross’ book Neighbors – The Destruction of the Jewish Community of Jedwabne, Poland. Rather than review arguments and protagonists of the debate in Poland, I concentrate here on its meaning as a source of state legitimacy. I argue that the Jedwabne issue has been employed by ‘Westernizing’ Polish elites to bolster Poland’s credentials as a modern democratic state and that it is an important part of a new kind of mnemonic legitimacy.

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