The volume presents results from a research project financed by the National Science Centre (Poland) entitled 'The Europeanization of realms of memory and the invention of a common European heritage'. Furthermore, the book reflects the objectives of this project: to describe and understand the processes which are at work in the Polish and Swedish context and lead to the construction of a new, Europeanized representations of the past. We ask how the ongoing process of European, political integration influences local, regional, national and transnational interpretations of the past in these two countries.
As an outcome of a multidisciplinary effort on the part of Polish and Swedish researchers working in the fields of ethnology and cultural anthropology, the sociology of culture, history, memory and heritage studies, this volume has emerged. While the book demonstrates a variety of cases and approaches, it is at the same time firmly anchored in the common abovementioned research question and the authors’ common understandings of the key concepts used.
This volume reflects attempts undertaken by our research team to grasp the sometimes fluid and elusive aspects of the Europeanization of heritage and memories in Poland and Sweden. The selection of cases analysed not only allows us to attempt to comprehend the essence and diverse directions of the processes of Europeanization but also its dynamics in places which differ in terms of their axiology. The co-authors thus analysed its influence in places connected with contemporary museum narration (Lucja Piekarska-Duraj), transnational initiatives (Lars-Eric Jönsson), regional/transnational idylls (Eleonora Narvselius), national pride (Krzysztof Kowalski), with dark memory from the period of the Second World War (Barbara Törnquist-Plewa, Björn Magnusson Staaf, Elisabeth Büttner) and new forms of heroism (Ulf Zander, Katarzyna Suszkiewicz)...
The examples of the Europeanization of heritage and memory provided in this volume show that its efficacy varies, with some places easily being linked to the European context and others resisting it. In other words, it does not follow the same course everywhere nor does it lead to the same redefinition of the past. The Polish and Swedish examples are excellent proof of this, as evidenced and explored in the Conclusion (Zdzislaw Mach).

Preface, Krzysztof Kowalski, Barbara Törnquist-Plewa