EN
The idea of writing a textbook on Polish history was a flagship project of Polish historiography in the period in which the historical profession was subjected to the process of Stalinization. Prepared by the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences, it was envisaged to provide a canonical interpretation of the national past. The project was carried out under the watchful eye of communist authorities and in close coordination with the Institute for Slavic Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. Scholars affiliated with the latter institution were involved in preparing the Soviet version of Polish history. The successive stages of creating the textbook in question were accompanied by scholarly meetings attended by both Polish and Soviet academics. This article deals with Soviet scholars’ discussion on the second volume of the work known as the mock-up version of Historia Polski (1764–1864). The discussion was held when both Polish and Soviet historiographies were undergoing profound changes initiated by the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The analysis of the opinions formulated by Soviet scholars during the meeting held in the Institute for Slavic Studies on 4–5 April 1957 and during the conference held in Sulejówek on 14–17 April 1957, as well as the examination of the changes introduced to the final edition of the work in question support the conclusion that Soviet historians accepted the fact that, following the liberalization of political system, their Polish counterparts enjoyed the right to autonomously shape the interpretation of the history of their own country. Consequently, the Soviet critique had a limited impact on the final version of the textbook in question.