Object structure
Title:

‘Coat Thieves’ and Bandits? Belarusian Counter-Memory of the ‘Cursed Soldiers’

Subtitle:

Acta Poloniae Historica T. 128 (2023), Mnemonic Wars in Poland

Creator:

Dobrosielski, Paweł ORCID ; Jaskułowski, Krzysztof ORCID ; Majewski, Piotr ORCID

Institutional creator:

Polska Akademia Nauk. Komitet Nauk Historycznych ; Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla ISNI ; Fundacja Instytutu Historii im. Tadeusza Manteuffla Polskiej Akademii Nauk ISNI

Contributor:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2023

Description:

p. 45-65

Subject and Keywords:

Belarusian minority in Poland ; counter-memory ; cursed soldiers

Abstract:

In the article, we analyse attitudes of representatives of the Belarusian minority in Poland towards the armed anti-communist underground operating in the Podlasie region after 1944 (the so-called ‘cursed soldiers’). Drawing on semi-structured interviews with various Belarusian actors, as well as on observations made during field research in the Podlasie region in June 2021, we are able to illustrate a clash between official commemorative practices and the local and communicative memory of the Belarusians. We analyse the role played by the collective memory of the underground among the Belarusian minority in Podlasie against the backdrop of the hegemonic politics of memory that glorifies the ‘cursed soldiers’ as national heroes. The analysis of counter-hegemonic memory accounts and their relation to dominant narratives uncovers the emotions generated by the hegemonic politics of memory among representatives of the Belarusian minority, who generally regard it as depreciating their experience and evoking a sense of endangerment. We show that Belarusian memory is perceived as incompatible with the ideological assumptions of the hegemonic Polish memory; therefore, we want to give voice to the marginalised representatives of the Belarusian minority. However, the Belarusian minority should not be perceived as a homogenous group – our analysis points to the fact that various actors various actors negotiate the hegemonic politics of memory in various ways when faced with the pressure of assimilation.

References:

Alonso Ana Maria, ‘The Politics of Space, Time, and Substance: State Formation, Nationalism, and Ethnicity’, Annual Anthropological Review, 29 (1994), 379–405.
Assmann Jan, Pamięć kulturowa. Pismo, zapamiętywanie i polityczna tożsamość w cywilizacjach starożytnych, transl. Anna Kryczyńska-Pham (Warszawa, 2008).
Bakuła Bogusław, ‘Kolonialne i postkolonialne aspekty polskiego dyskursu kresoznawczego (zarys problematyki)’, Teksty Drugie, 6 (2006), 11–33.
Beauvois Daniel, ‘Mit „kresów wschodnich”, czyli jak mu położyć kres’, in Wojciech Wrzesiński (ed.), Polskie mity polityczne XIX i XX wieku (Wrocław, 1994).
Foucault Michel, Language, Counter-Memory, Practice, transl. Donald F. Bouchard and Sherry Simon (Ithaca, NY, 1977).
Jaskułowski Krzysztof and Piotr Majewski, ‘Populist in Form, Nationalist in Content? Law and Justice, Nationalism and Memory Politics’, European Politics and Society, 24 (2022), 461–76.
Jaskułowski Krzysztof, Piotr Majewski, and Adrianna Surmiak, Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism. History School Education in Poland (New York, 2022).
Kończal Kornelia, ‘The Invention of the “Cursed Soldiers” and Its Opponents: Post-War Partisan Struggle in Contemporary Poland’, East European Politics and Societies, xxxiv, 1 (2020), 67–95.
Kotwas Marta and Jan Kubik, ‘Symbolic Thickening of Public Culture and the Rise of Right-Wing Populism in Poland’, East European Politics and Societies, xxxiii, 2 (2019), 435–71.
Kulak Jerzy, Rozstrzelany oddział (Warszawa, 2004).
Mauersberg Stanisław, Szkolnictwo powszechne dla mniejszości narodowych w Polsce w latach 1918–1939 (Wrocław, 1968).
Mironowicz Eugeniusz, ‘Białorusini w Polsce 1919–2009’, in Teresa Zaniewska (ed.), Białorusini (Warszawa, 2010).
Skórczewski Dariusz, ‘Melancholia dyskursu kresoznawczego’, PORÓWNANIA. Czasopismo poświęcone zagadnieniom komparatystyki literackiej, 11 (2012), 125–38.
Wodak Roman (ed.), The Discursive Construction of History: Remembering the Wehrmacht’s War of Annihilation (London, 2008).
Zerubavel Yael, Recovered Roots Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition (Chicago, 1995).

Relation:

Acta Poloniae Historica

Volume:

128

Start page:

45

End page:

65

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

application/octet-stream

Resource Identifier:

2450-8462 ; 0001-6829 ; 10.12775/APH.2023.128.03

Source:

IH PAN, sygn. A.295/128 Podr. ; IH PAN, sygn. A.296/128 ; click here to follow the link

Language:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-ND 4.0 license, full text available at: ; -

Digitizing institution:

Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Original in:

Library of the Institute of History PAS

Projects co-financed by:

Ministry of Education and Science

Access:

Open

×

Citation

Citation style: