The Protection of Historical Memory and the Crime of Denialism: a comparative analysis of Italy and Poland’s cases

The thesis delves deep into the compelling concept of historical memory and denialism, with a primary focus on WWII and the Holocaust, the events which have significantly shaped the development of memory laws as we know them today. The introduction will help us understand what historical memory is and why its protection is so important; we will also discuss the birth of Holocaust denialism, the difficult path towards its criminalization and the challenges encountered regarding its clash with freedom of expression. As memory is something evanescent, with the passing of time we risk to erase some events forever; for this reason memory laws have been introduce to prevent the recurrence of past atrocities. Beyond that, of course these laws aim to give space and dignity to the victims and reflect on what led to those horrors. The other face of the coin is denialism, analyzed primarily relating to the Holocaust, a phenomenon with origins in the 70s, characterized by the extreme belief that all was a fabricated spectacle designed to diminish Germany's power. The first chapter displays the legislative frameworks of Western European countries and the ones of Eastern European countries, presenting their differences in the approach used with memory laws and denialism. The West is more careful to avoid the creation of a collective memory proper of the state and instead encourages people to have a mind of their own, the East on the contrary is known for manipulating media and society to control the spread of information and for trying to impose a unique and revised vision of the past. Moving on to Italy, the second chapter will offer a study of the country's legislative choices from the post-war period to the present day, with an in-depth analysis of the most important memory laws and provisions against denialism enacted in our country. In this section the aim will be to show the greatest mistakes made by the legislator, but also understand how the concept of memory and past atrocities is addressed by the Italian nation on a legislative level. In the third chapter, our focus shifts to Poland, the nation where some of the most heinous events of WWII took place, and where major concentration camps were located. We'll assess the country's policies and efforts to protect historical memory and prosecute deniers, but also their relationship with the other side of their past, namely the communist history. The final chapter will compare the policies of these two countries, seeking to unveil their potential future developments. The goal is to grasp how different their understanding of memories to be protected is and what can instead appear more similar in their way of acting. In conclusion, the path toward understanding the scope and limitations of memory laws and denialism is complex, but hope for a brighter future remains. We must continue to push for change and improvements in the justice system, so that rights can be protected and discriminations avoided. The insights presented in this paper stem from an extensive review of literature, including books and articles written by various experts, along with publications from memory institutes such as MELA and projects conducted by different institutes and universities. This comprehensive research provides a broad overview of the diverse situations across Europe, enabling a detailed analysis of Italy and Poland's cases.