Czy ulica Dworcowa rzeczywiście była zagrożona dekomunizacją? Druga fala dekomunizacji nazw ulic w Krakowie w latach 2016–2024

Abstract

WAS DWORCOWA STREET REALLY THREATENED BY DECOMMUNIZATION? THE SECOND WAVE OF THE DECOMMUNIZATION OF KRAKÓW’S STREETS IN THE YEARS 2016–2024

The paper describes the process of decommunization of Kraków’s public space carried out by the Kraków City Council after 1994. During the City Council’s first term of office (1990–1994) about 150 street names glorifying dates and events which were significant for the Communist regime and had been introduced into the city’s public space in the era of the Polish People’s Republic by Communist party-controlled local authorities were removed. Despite the massive work completed by Kraków’s City Council of the first term of office, councillors would still encounter isolated cases of street names which they considered unworthy of such honour in the documentation and on street nameplates. Some of these were successfully replaced, while the liquidation of others was objected to by the residents, local regulations and the city’s district councils. The removal of the last standing street names commemorating the former regime would only be executed following the implementation of the Decommunization Law of 2016. The paper presents the perception of that law, the chronology of events, the actions undertaken by municipal authorities, the city’s district councils and ordinary residents, the mechanism of public consultation, as well as the power struggle between municipal and state authorities over who is empowered to make decisions about street names. There are also some digressions concerning the mistakes made by the authorities: these may be scarce, and may not do justice to the overall effect of the renaming project, yet they might turn into anecdotes about early 2000s Kraków in the future. Ultimately, in the discussed period one street was given (!) a name that glorified the former regime, 11 such street names were replaced, and the removal of further three street names of that kind was objected to and prevented following the verdicts of administrative courts. Dworcowa (lit. railway station) Street was never even considered for renaming, however, it quite unexpectedly became the symbol of protest against the decommunization campaign, the way it was carried out, and some of the changes it entailed.