Spaces of Nationhood and Contested Soviet War Monuments in Poland: The Warsaw Monument to the Brotherhood in Arms

Abstract

Memorial landscapes typically reflect the state’s ideological positions. However, it has been convincingly argued that in the last few decades, in democratic systems, we have witnessed a decline in authoritative memories. This chapter probes the question whether, and if so to what extent, transitional states are experiencing the same progressive erosion of the central authorities’ dominant position in memory production. The chapter focuses on Poland, which became a democratic state in 1989 following over forty years of communist one-party rule and explores the means that the newly democratized state has at its disposal to exercise control over public space. The Warsaw “Brotherhood in Arms” monument, commemorating the contentious liberation of Poland by the Red Army in 1944–1945, is used here as a case study.