Oral history in public spaces in Poland : from grassroots beginnings in the 1990s to contemporary historical policy

The article raises the question of the role that oral history projects play in the so-called "symbolic transformation", which is part of the grand process of transformation of the Polish state and society that has been initiated in the groundbreaking year of 1989. The author draws attention to the fact that for more than a decade the main social actors in this forum are state institutions or central cultural organisations, which have been promoting and organising oral history projects. Their methodological approach and the use of oral history has influenced general practice and evoked belief that oral history as a public history is one of many ways of practicing the top-down historical policy.