False Memory Syndrome: The Creation of a Vision of Nation’s Recent History by Communist Authorities in Poland (in search of a research model)

Abstract

The paper deals with the collective historical memory of Polish society and is divided into two parts. In the first one the utility of psychological categories and concepts originally developed around the recovered memory therapy and the false memory syndrome for studying attempts to change collective memory made "from above ” is discussed. The second one seeks to apply some of them to the study of a radical transformation of Poles ’ historical memory undertaken by the new communist ruling elite after WWII. The paper is focused on the crucial aspect of this issue, i. e. school education in history and history textbooks for elementary and junior high schools that were published in the early 1950s form its empirical basis.