Museums and Memory: Building a Usable Past in Communist Poland

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This thesis examines communist attempts to build a usable past in Poland between 1945 and 1989 by focusing on museums - local, national and regional - and their exhibitions and public engagement. It extends the lens of memory studies to the communist period and asks fundamental questions about the way Polish communists used national history to buy legitimacy. In particular, it examines the relationship between a centrally imposed historical narrative and the different experiences of various localities and other cultural groups. By charting the evolution of historical narratives over time, it excavates the deeper roots of Polish interpretations of the past.