transitional justice

Pasikowski’s ‘Pigs’ as an Illustration of Vetting in a Transitional Society

Mgr Mateusz Grabarczyk

Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań

English abstract: Pigs, a 1992 movie directed by Władysław Pasikowski, has become an iconic picture over the years, growing into a source of quotes and becoming a cult classic. The film, while remaining commercially attractive, outlines many problems within transitional justice and opens a discussion regarding the vetting of the SB officers carried out at that time, including the selected model.

The plot of the film takes place in 1990, the period of political transformation in Poland after the fall of communism. Before the purely sensational action comes to the fore, the movie is largely about a reform of the MSW and the SB, about vetting of its officers and their fate while trying to find themselves in the new reality. It also shows that it is remarkably difficult to carry out reforms simultaneously in many fields: political, economic and social, and that it may be the source of a crisis.

The aim of this article is to present Pasikowski’s Pigs as a film that demonstrates the practical issues related to one of the mechanisms used in the framework of transitional justice, namely the vetting process. The movie as an artistic representation of individuals subjected to vetting opens discourse on transitional justice and the problem of dealing with undemocratic system. The paper concentrates on a general outline of the movie, paying attention to the vetting committees and their function within the framework of transitional justice. While presenting the normative model of officers’ vetting and juxtaposing it with the image shown in the film, the author displays basic moral and social problems related to the vetting.

Keywords: Pasikowski’s Pigs, security service, vetting, dealing with the past, transitional justice, decommunization

Language: English

Published: Number 1(26)/2021, pp. 100-111.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2021.1.100

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Number of downloads: 189

Transitional Justice and the Constitutional Crisis: The Case of Poland (2015–2019)

Dr Michał Krotoszyński

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: During the last four years the situation in Poland has been a matter of interest to the worldwide legal community mostly due to the constitutional crisis. Yet, the years 2015–2019 were also a time of a revival of transitional justice measures, such as cleansing the public sphere of communist symbols, remodelling of lustration law, and further reduction of pensions of communist secret service employees and officers. In this paper I argue that these spheres are interconnected and that Poland’s constitutional crisis has a transitional justice dimension. I start with an overview of retrospective instruments dealing with the communist past introduced in the last four years. Next, I turn to the constitutional crisis itself, discussing its possible explanations and transitional justice aspects. In the end I claim that the dramatic constitutional backsliding that Poland has recently experienced can be explained not only as a power grab, but also as a result of the tension between the rule of law and the principle of individual responsibility on one hand – and the resort to collective accountability in an attempt to get what the government sees as justice on the other.

Keywords: transitional justice, lustration, decommunization, Poland’s constitutional crisis, Polish Supreme Court, rule of law, sincerity principle

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 22-39.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.22

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Number of downloads: 278

Truth Revelation Procedures as a Rights-based Alternative to the Politics of (Non-)Memory

Mgr Emilia Kowalewska

Polish Academy of Sciences

English abstract: This article offers a socio-legal reflection on the relation between law, state obligation, and attempts to institutionalize collective memory. As the question of memory institutionalization becomes most pertinent in the context of regime change that imposes on an incumbent government certain expectations for addressing the past, the article considers this research problem from the perspective of transitional justice theory. The transitional justice paradigm allows for an interdisciplinary consideration of the topic. Special attention is paid to legal norms and mechanisms directed towards establishing authoritative knowledge about the past. The emerging principle of the right to truth is presented as an integrating and rights-based perspective from which to approach societal demands for acknowledging injustices of the past. Measured against the fundamental rights that lie at the heart of transitional justice theory, three types of truth revelation procedures are presented. The article shows that the relationship between law and memory – which is often reduced to one of political instrumentalization – should, in accordance with the values of a liberal democracy, be reframed from the perspective of individual and collective rights. The article seeks to contribute to the field of memory studies in the social sciences by exposing functions of legal norms and mechanisms that are often overlooked when discussed from the perspective of the politics of memory.

Keywords: collective memory, truth revelation procedures, transitional justice, right to truth, politics of memory, post-communist Poland

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 51-66.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.51

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Number of downloads: 209

Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland as Part of State Politics of Memory

Mgr Mateusz Grabarczyk

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: The article is an analysis of the regulations regarding the reduction of pensions of former officers of the People’s Republic of Poland’s security services as an element of state politics of memory, presenting the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts of 2009 and 2016 from the perspective of transitional justice.

Whilst investigating the admissibility of using such a retribution mechanism, the author draws attention to the purpose of this type of regulation. Reducing pensions has, in fact, two goals – a retrospective one and a prospective one. The retrospective goal is about administering historical justice by penalizing a specific group of people using various mechanisms (in this case administrative sanctions). In the prospective aspect, it is an element of institutionalizing memory and building a specific political narrative. As a consequence, apart from commemorative practices, it aims to produce and disseminate knowledge in public space, while clearly rejecting the past regime.

In relation to the Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts, while the Act of 2009 was to some extent aimed at the retrospective goal, the 2016 Act is primarily an element of politics of memory used by authorities to control the recollection of past events by explicitly condemning the previous system and all persons in any way related to it. For this reason, the author focuses on the mechanism of reducing pensions as one of the elements of politics of memory in Poland.

Keywords: Uniformed Services Pension Amendment Acts in Poland, politics of memory, institutionalization of collective memory, decommunization, reducing pensions of communist officials, transitional justice

Language: English

Published: Number 3(21)/2019, pp. 67-80.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36280/AFPiFS.2019.3.67

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Number of downloads: 220

Reflexivity and transitional justice research

Mgr Michał Krotoszyński

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

English abstract: The article explores ways in which the notion of reflexivity can apply to the research on transitional justice. First, the article describes reflexive considerations concerning the state of the field itself. Then, the reflections on transitional justice measures are characterized, focusing primarily on the discussion on the use of criminal trials. Finally, the article portrays how collective and individual identity can be reshaped during the transition. The article argues that research on dealing with the past is par excellence reflexive, as the debate challenges even the most basic ideas connected with transitional justice.

Keywords: cultural relativism, dealing with the past, human rights, political transition, reflexive law, reflexivity, transitional justice, universalism

Language: Polish

Published: Number 2(11)/2015, p. 59-68.

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Number of downloads: 252