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Residual history: memory and activism in modern Poland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Shona Allison
Shona Allison*
Affiliation:
Department of History and Classics, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
*
* Email: sallison@ualberta.ca
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Extract

This article examines the divide between national and local collective memory in Poland and investigates the role of “memory activists” in mediating and exploiting this divide. It narrows its focus to the ethnic cleansing of Poles by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943 to 1944 and the forced relocation of Ukrainians in Poland, Operation Vistula, in 1947. It surveys local and national newspapers to understand competing interpretations and analyzes what incidents (e.g. protests, disputes, commemorations, reenactments, etc.) related to these events take place in local communities. It highlights the many actors, “memory activists,” and associations involved in pushing specific, often ahistorical, interpretations of these events – motivated by political gain, careerism, or personal conviction. It uses the theoretical works of Maurice Halbwachs and Karl Mannheim to effectively distinguish between local and national phenomenon and to elucidate the various nuances of collective memory.

Keywords

PolandUkrainian insurgent armyOperation Vistulacollective memorynationalist activism
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 43 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 906 - 926
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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