The article examines the relationship between Russians and Stalinism through the Polish lens. The analysis centers around the issues of remembrance and oblivion, two thought processes that are merely superficially contradictory. The author is interested in problems of “power over memory” and “erasing memory” characteristic of non-democratic orders. Within the scope of interest, there is also the cultivation of the heroic myth associated with World War II, including the attitude towards Stalin-the-Victor. Another point of focus is the Russian society’s remembrance/forgetfulness regarding Stalin’s Great Terror and the atrocity of Gulags, as well as its collective reluctance towards founding a national community on the remembrance of Stalinist repressions. The author refers to many authors, among which there are Jacek Hugo-Bader, Mariusz Wilk and Wacław Radziwinowicz.