Trauma in the Process:The Reception of Bieżeństwo in the Podlasie Region Cover Image

Trauma w procesie –o podlaskiej recepcji bieżeństwa
Trauma in the Process:The Reception of Bieżeństwo in the Podlasie Region

Author(s): Katarzyna Sawicka-Mierzyńska
Subject(s): History, Cultural history, Military history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Between Berlin Congress and WW I
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku
Keywords: World War I; refugees; collective memory; cultural trauma;Podlasie

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses the reception of bieżeństwo– the exodus of about three million inhabitants of the western borderlands of the Russian empire deep into Russia in 1915. It was part of the “scorched earth” tacticsconducted by the tsarist authorities, which were supposed to hinder the German army’s march eastward. Using the category of “cultural trauma” formulated by J.C. Alexander, the author seeks to discover why biezenstwo did not become a part of the collective memory of Poles and how it now functions in the collective memory of Podlasie residents.The research was based primarily on Aneta Prymaka-Oniszk’s reportage Bieżeństwo 1915. Zapomniani uchodźcy[Biezhenstvo 1915. Forgotten refugees]and the anthology Jestem, bo wrócili[I am because they came back].

  • Issue Year: 2021
  • Issue No: 19
  • Page Range: 27-49
  • Page Count: 23
  • Language: English