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Katyń’: (Re)Membering the Event Through Myth, Memory and Justice

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Katyń’: (Re)Membering the Event Through Myth, Memory and Justice Narrating ‘Katyń’: (Re)membering the event through myth, memory and justice Vanessa Fredericks B Media; BA (Hons) Cultural Studies A thesis submitted to the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University in fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Macquarie University Sydney, Australia 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .................................................................................................................................. iii Originality Statement............................................................................................................iv Dedication ................................................................................................................................ v Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................vi List of Abbreviations........................................................................................................... vii Introduction .............................................................................................................................1 Chapter One: Narrativisation(s) of ‘Katyń’ ......................................................................7 Introduction...................................................................................................................................... 7 ‘Katyń’ as Metaphor ....................................................................................................................... 7 History and Genealogy ................................................................................................................... 9 Lyotard and ‘Bearing Witness’ ................................................................................................... 13 Derrida and Deconstruction ........................................................................................................ 15 A Note on the Historical Texts .................................................................................................... 18 Polish-Russian Relations .............................................................................................................. 21 The Polish-Soviet War 1920 ......................................................................................................... 23 Outbreak of World War II .......................................................................................................... 25 Soviet Invasion of Poland ............................................................................................................. 26 The Prisoners, the Camps and the Executions ......................................................................... 29 The Discovery of the Graves ........................................................................................................ 31 The Burdenko Commission ......................................................................................................... 34 The Division of Poland .................................................................................................................. 36 The Nuremberg Trials .................................................................................................................. 37 Censorship and the Establishment of the Polish ‘People’s Republic’ ................................... 40 ‘Katyń’ Narratives in America and Britain: Politics and Media........................................... 41 ‘Katyń’ in Poland .......................................................................................................................... 44 Admission of Soviet Involvement ................................................................................................ 46 Addressing the Legacy of ‘Katyń’ .............................................................................................. 49 The Russian Katyń Investigations .............................................................................................. 51 ‘Katyń’ 2010 ................................................................................................................................... 53 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 58 Chapter Two: Martyrs, Messiahs and the Myth(s) of the Polish History .................. 59 Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 59 Myth and History .......................................................................................................................... 60 Defining the Nation: The Jagiellonian and Piast Myths ......................................................... 62 The Catholic Myth of Polish History.......................................................................................... 67 The Bulwark of Christendom Myth ........................................................................................... 68 The Polak-Katolik Myth of Identity ........................................................................................... 70 Nineteenth Century Jagiellonian Nationalism .......................................................................... 74 The Polish Romantic Myth .......................................................................................................... 76 Messianic Martyrdom and Catholicism .................................................................................... 80 The Inclusive Myth of Martyrdom ............................................................................................. 82 The ‘Katyń’ Martyrs..................................................................................................................... 85 The Body Politics of Martyrdom ................................................................................................ 87 i The Body as a Site of Resistance ................................................................................................. 89 Messianism and Gender ............................................................................................................... 91 ‘Katyń 2’: Myth and Meaning Making ..................................................................................... 95 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 98 Chapter 3: Memory and Memorialisation .................................................................... 100 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 100 Defining ‘Memory’ ..................................................................................................................... 100 History and Memory .................................................................................................................. 103 Collective Victimhood Identities .............................................................................................. 109 Freedom to Remember .............................................................................................................. 112 Pain and Erasure ........................................................................................................................ 115 (Re)membering and Forgetting: The Politics of Place and Space ...................................... 120 Soviet Katyń Memorials ............................................................................................................ 121 The London Katyń Memorial .................................................................................................. 123 The Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites ..................................... 125 (Re)membering ‘Katyń’ in Museums ..................................................................................... 126 Polysemic Memorial Narratives ............................................................................................... 128 Commemorative Practices as (embodied) Rituals of Remembrance ................................. 130 History and Memory: Conflicting Narratives of Victimhood ............................................. 134 ‘Memory’ to-come ...................................................................................................................... 137 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 138 Chapter 4: Towards an Ethics of Justice ...................................................................... 140 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 140 Defining ‘Justice’ / ‘Crimes Against Humanity’ ................................................................... 140 ‘Katyń’ and Justice .................................................................................................................... 142 An Apology for ‘Katyń’: Acknowledgement or Accountability? ....................................... 145 Reconciliatory ‘Justice’ ............................................................................................................. 147 Nuremberg: Justice (and the force of) (International) Law ...............................................
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