Dr Marek Derlatka
University of Zielona Góra
English abstract: The 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”. The truth about the Katyn massacre was preserved in Polish society despite Stalinist terror and communist fabrications. The right to historical truth, or the right to decree one acceptable vision of the past, the freedom of speech and the freedom of scientific research, can these values be reconciled? Answers to such questions are urgently sought, but, as is often the case in the area of conflict between different types of freedom, they may give rise to many controversies.
Keywords: communist crime, denial, right of memory, national identity
Language: Polish
Published: Number 3(44)/2025, pp. 95-106.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2025.3.95
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