Analysis of history book titles concerning the World War II

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the lexical titles of historical books on World War II that were published between 1989 and 2014. These publications can be regarded as intentional carriers of memory and sources of Poles’ knowledge about the 1939-1945 conflict. Therefore, becoming familiar with historiographical trends, concerning World War II, can help to understand the place of these events in Poles’ collective memory. This article attempts to distinguish the most and least addressed topics by historians of World War II. It is important to compare two groups of titles referring to the German and Soviet occupation. The possible reasons for observed tendencies are presented. Among the author’s assumptions is a definite predominance of titles referring to the Soviet occupation, justified by the abolition of censorship after the political transformation. Other hypotheses refer, among others, to the domination of military themes in Polish historiography, the little interest of historians in the profiles of war heroes and the growing number of historical publications in the examined time.