To rule like Mr Kaczyński wants to rule, you have to falsify and reshape the Poles’ collective memory. You have to decree that the heroes of Poland’s most recent history – Lech Wałęsa, Bronisław Geremek, Tadeusz Mazowiecki – were traitors or helpers of traitors. You have to call Poland’s peaceful transformation – the country’s single greatest success in the 20th century – an act of national treason. You have to teach the Poles to fear and mistrust their neighbours. And you have to teach them to believe in the infallibility of their new Leader – Jarosław Kaczyński. Judging by the Poles’ traditional spirit of contrariness, that is hardly going to be an easy task.
more form Adam Michnik at Gazeta Wyborcza here (thanks to Filip Tomczak).