Symbolic policy in small towns of Zamojszczyzna region, Poland, in the post-socialist period

Bibliographic Data

ID8251385
AuthorsMaciej Falski (0000-0002-5610-5608, University of Warsaw, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume17
Issue3
Pages223-242
Publication date2023-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Nationalism Memory & Language Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2570-5857 • E-ISSN: 2570-5857
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.2478/jnmlp-2023-0014
OpenAlexW4391275284
LanguageEN
References cited14

Small cities have attracted less attention from researchers of transformation processes, although in some countries they are an important part of the social landscape, as they are in Poland. I present the results of research on the public space and symbolic politics in three small towns in Zamojszczyzna, a region in southeastern Poland. All are characterized by interrupted or disturbed historical continuity due to the extermination of their Jewish communities, which made up the majority of the population until World War II. After 1945, the Jewish past was silenced, while the symbolic space was dominated by the memory of the resistance movement. I show in my text that since the 1990s there have been significant transformations in the aforementioned towns. In some of them, firstly, interest in Jewish heritage and efforts to preserve it are becoming more apparent. Second, there is a noticeable shift from commemorating anti-fascism to promoting the so-called struggle against communism, a reflection of the current politics of remembrance at the central level. I argue that the use of cultural heritage in small towns serves largely to gain recognition. Local authorities often use not only elements of the past that fit into national narratives, but also local traditions or even fictional literary heroes, for this purpose

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Communism · Ethnology · Judaism · Literature · Narrative · Period (music · Political science · Politics · Population · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · The Symbolic · World War II · Demography · History · Law · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Sustainable Urban and Rural Development · Urbanization and City Planning

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