1989: A (Non-)Turning Point for the Polish-German Schoolbook Commission?

Abstract

Historical commissions and dialogues of historians have been created in order to foster rapprochement, if not reconciliation. The principle is to create a dialogue about history, and, in a spirit of “reconstructive ethics,” (Ferry) to listen to the other’s viewpoints and therefore to put these visions into perspective. That is exactly what the Polish-German Textbook Commission, created in 1972, has been trying to do after WWII, while the 1970’s constituted a period of growth for such bilateral commissions. The task for the Textbook commission was especially complicated, while the two countries still belonged to two different blocs during the Cold War. It however reached its peak in the 1970’s-1980’s, when the commission was one of the only Polish-German, East-West platform for dialogue. Despite the 1989 revolution, the commission still exists today. But how have the 1989 events affected the commission’s work? Have they been a turning- point toward a completely new reality? My hypothesis is twofold: 1989 implicated few little changes on the short-run, but brought some deeper ones on the long-run. The structure of this article will follow this reasoning. First, I will present the limited changes on the short-run. Second, I will explain the bigger changes that could emerge after 1989. This article is based on data collected for my PhD, especially interviews, archives, participant observations, discourses, the media.