Comparing Polish-German and Polish-Russian reconciliation efforts

Poland is among the countries that cite a geopolitical fate. Regardless of its own complex history, with no shortage of expansive wars, since the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth century it has faced not only territorial claims from its strongest neighbours but also planned efforts to divide and liquidate it. The processes of reconciliation with the largest neighbours – Germany and Russia – are thus about, on the one hand, the preservation of memory about the atrocities and human sufferings, bringing forgiveness and preventing such atrocities from happening again in the future. An enormous role in Polish-German reconciliation was played by ethical reflection derived from religion, which became a source of inspiration in politics. In Polish-German reconciliation, an enormous role was played by Christian churches – the Evangelical and the Catholic church. One attempt to quasi-diplomatically support Polish-Russian reconciliation was the establishment of the Polish-Russian Group for Difficult Issues in 2002 and its reactivation in 2008.