Fear Management Foreign Threats In The Postwar Polish Propaganda The Influence And The Reception Of The Communist Media 19441956 25 Studies In History, Memory And Politics

The so-called people's power' the communists tended to make Poles afraid. At first afraid of the Anglo-Saxon imperialists, then of the German revisionists, Zionist 5th column and Kuron and Michnik walking on the CIA's leash'. The creation of the atmosphere of fear featuring Germans and their alleged return' lasted until 1970. In his Fear Management Bruno Kaminski reaches to the origins of this story. Based on a huge selection of sources this analytical study exhibits how in the first 15 postwar years Poles were threatened with the Western world. In the beginning, the Germans were chosen to play the role of the main enemy, dethroned later by the Americans. At the same time, the author proves that fear next to nationalism and ethnic hostility developed into one of the pillars legitimizing the communist system.

Marcin Zaremba, Polish Academy of Science, University of Warsaw