DZIEDZICTWO KULTUROWE I JEGO ZAGROŻENIA W SYTUACJI KONFLIKTU WOJENNEGO .......... 35

CULTURAL HERITAGE AND ITS THREATS DURING A MILITARY CONFLICT

Traditional definitions of warfare oftentimes cannot be applied to modern military conflicts which involve not only state armies but non-state subjects as well – namely political and terrorist groups. One of the main victims of such conflicts is cultural heritage. The article presents primary legal acts concerning the protection of heritage during war and analyzes the phenomenon of culturicide and iconoclasm as forms of deliberate destruction of cultural goods aimed at the fundaments of social identity. The problems of looting and illegal trade of antiquities are also discussed as the means of financing conflicts, propaganda, and ideological pressure. Destruction of heritage is treated not as a byproduct of war, by as an element of political and psychological strategies leading to weakening of collective memory and cultural subordination of the society.