The absent 'Others': A comparative study of memories of displacement in Poland and Ukraine

摘要

The article is a comparative study of memories concerning displacement and the violence which accompanied it in post-war Poland and Ukraine. On the basis of case studies of two small, local communities, I attempt to answer how the inhabitants of townships which suffered mass displacement remember those who were exiled - the Others. Analysing biographical narratives of the oldest generation of deportees, I describe strategies for dealing with difficult memories, such as the tabooing of violence and the externalisation of guilt. In order to explain the differences between narratives from the two towns, I draw upon factors known to shape biographical memory, such as the individual biographical experience, local and national cultures of memory, remembrance practices and contacts with other biographical memories.