Rodzinna postpamięć Ślązaków
Family Postmemory of the People of Silesia

Summary/Abstract: The author suggests a possible use of postmemory to analyse the contemporary family memory of the people of Silesia. Their memoirs about WW2 (such as working for the Wehrmacht, the Red Army invading Silesia, working in labour camps, nationality verification, displacements to Germany, and deportations to Siberia) bear signs of latent memory which is rarely revealed even to the next of kin. Present mainly within the family circle, within the local society, and among friends, these memoirs integrated Silesians and made them a unique community that considers itself a stigmatized minority. This contributed to mythologizing and stereotyping the whole memory. The family memory of the past events, full of emotions and understatements, often contradicting the official version of history, has been developed by children and grandchildren who tried to learn about it and understand it. As a result of political changes that occurred in Poland after 1989 – which triggered a slow process of memory democratisation and incorporation of Silesians’ memoirs into the official history – new academic papers, memoirs, and documentaries were released. This process inspired the second and the third generations of Silesians to share ‘family myths and legends’.

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