Part 4: Poland’s Culture Wars

In Poland, a nationalist party has been in power for four years. We went to Warsaw, the capital, and Gdansk, the birthplace of a movement that brought down Communism, to see how this government has changed democratic institutions.

Guests: Katrin Bennhold, the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times, and Clare Toeniskoetter and Lynsea Garrison, producers for “The Daily,” spoke with Jaroslaw Kurski, a newspaper editor; Magdalena Adamowicz, a politician and the widow of a liberal mayor who was murdered; and Danuta Bialooka-Kostenecka, an official with the governing Law and Justice party. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Background reading:

Poland’s nationalists aren’t seeking to take the country out of the European Union, but to take the European Union out of Poland.With national elections approaching, both the government and its opponents have sought to shape the country’s historical memory.Poland’s governing party has made opposition to gay rights a cornerstone of its campaigning, escalating fears that the divisive rhetoric could translate to violence.