Welcome to the issue 3(44)/2025 of the „Archiwum Filozofii Prawa i Filozofii Społecznej” entitled Communist Crimes in Court: Law, Justice, and Memory in Post-Communist Europe, ed. M. Łaszewska-Hellriegel, Christoph-Eric Mecke. The texts are available here.
Table of contents
Issue page: Issue 3(44)/2025 [PL/ENG]
- The influence of Marxism on the interpretation of law in Poland (some remarks concerning the theory of legal interpretation by Jerzy Wróblewski)The aim of this article is an attempt to conceptualize Jerzy Wroblewski’s theory of legal interpretation in the context of examining the influence of Marxism on interpretative practices.
- Animal welfare under socialism: Anthropocentrism, instrumentalization, and ideology in the GDRThis article investigates the German Democratic Republic’s (GDR) approach to animal welfare through the lens of Marxist ideology, focusing on the tension between utilitarian principles and anthropocentric values. It aims to analyze how the GDR’s socialist framework, which prioritized collective welfare and economic productivity, influenced its policies toward animals, often reducing them to mere instruments for human benefit.
- On the threats to democracy and the rule of law: The philosophy of total states in the views of Szymon Rundstein and Maciej StarzewskiOne of the most important issues recently addressed in literature is the threats to democracy and the rule of law. It is pointed out that the need to verify the role and tasks of key political institutions, primarily the state, is determined by the nature and dynamics of changes in the modern world.
- The establishment of the Institute of National Remembrance as the authority responsible for prosecuting communist and Nazi crimes: An analysis of the efficiency of the IPN ActThe purpose of this article is to analyse the rationale behind the establishment of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and to assess whether its original objectives have been achieved. It is important to note that, in a democratic state, a rational legislator must consider not only the intended outcomes of the enacted provisions but also their efficiency.
- Attempts to punish communist crimes throughout history: Failures and successesThe article contains a retrospective presentation of attempts to punish communist crimes committed by functionaries of the communist state apparatus since the civil war in Russia. Although there were many such attempts, they remain unknown to the general public.
- The notion of activities for the independent existence of the Polish State on the basis of the so-called February ActUnder the Act of 23 February 1991, victims of repression during the communist era are entitled to claim compensation from the State Treasury. The condition is that they conducted activities for the independent existence of the Polish State.
- Denying communist crimes: Selected problemsThe offence described in Article 55 of the Act of 18 December 1998 on the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes Against the Polish Nation is commonly known as the Auschwitz lie, although it also includes the denial of communist crimes. The aim of my study is to analyze the basic matters relating to the offence known as hate speech in relation to “distortions of communism”.
- Criminalization of communist propaganda in the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of the Second Republic of PolandCombating totalitarian propaganda is a topic that continues to challenge the law, including criminal law dogmatics. The criminalization of totalitarian propaganda plays a special role in countries which have been affected by these regimes.
- The forgotten genocide. Extermination of the Crimean TatarsThe present study was motivated by the authors’ intention to analyse the actions of the USSR authorities in 1944 in Crimea against the local Tatar population. The central thesis of the study is that these actions can be classified as genocide.
- Finding legal approaches to dealing with the past after the fall of communism from the perspective of legal theory and comparative lawThe paper deals with the question of legal punishment of crimes, in particular crimes against life and freedom, which were committed in the former socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe in the name of the State or at least with its tacit approval. This question is discussed in the paper from the perspectives of legal theory and comparative law.
- Evaluation of the protests in Radom in 1976 from the perspective of Law & EconomicsThe subject of the article is an attempt to evaluate the events that took place in Radom in 1976 from the perspective of the tools used by Law & Economics. The basic aim of the article is to attempt to answer the question whether, if the legislator had used the Law & Economics assumptions in the lawmaking process during the communist period, there would have been social unrest in Radom and other parts of the country.