This week’s Debrief comes to you from the darkest recesses of the Bieszczady Mountains in south-east Poland. Like millions of Poles up and down the country, host John Beauchamp is going to take advantage of his God-given right to barbecue this weekend. There’s a reason why this podcast is a little late this week: I’ve just finished a month-long production of a series called The Bear Next Door on BBC Radio 4. Over five episodes, cultural and political heavyweights from the Baltic States, Finland and Moldova talk of their sense of identity in the face of Russia’s agression on Ukraine.

This sense of identity feeds directly into this week’s topic on The Debrief, as I meet Rafał Rogulski and Anna Wachowiak from the European Network Remembrance and Solidarity to talk about how a nation’s memory plays into a sense of identity.

Audio updated 05.05.2022