In the service of the future

In the service of the future. United Germany’s historical policy is a collection of texts in which experts take an in-depth look at selected aspects of Germany’s historical policy. Although the country has still not fully come to terms with its past, it serves as a model example of how, through immense effort, decades of work, and considerable financial and institutional resources, it is possible to build both a collective memory of oneself on the international stage and a new national identity.

The authors – analysts from the Centre for Eastern Studies and specialists from other institutions – present the various actors and their activities in the field of historical policy. Above all, they show how the German state – its strongest and most centralised actor – is able to steer memory by deciding what is remembered and what is not. A monument, a museum, a reconstructed church, a textbook, an educational campaign, or a cultural institution all become part of this process as instruments for shaping the future.

It is a book for those who wish to understand that memory policy is neither an abstraction nor merely an academic exercise, but a real process in which decisions taken today shape our tomorrow. Insightful and, one hopes, inspiring – from the first to the last page it compels reflection and asks how we, in Poland, wish to pursue our own historical policy.