Making Sense of the Past: (Re)constructing the Local Memorial Landscape in a Post-Soviet Base in Poland Cover Image

Making Sense of the Past: (Re)constructing the Local Memorial Landscape in a Post-Soviet Base in Poland
Making Sense of the Past: (Re)constructing the Local Memorial Landscape in a Post-Soviet Base in Poland

Author(s): Dominika Czarnecka
Subject(s): Geography, Regional studies, Culture and social structure
Published by: Tartu Ülikool, Eesti Rahva Muuseum, Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum
Keywords: collective memory; memorial landscape; post-Soviet base; postcommunist Poland; urban space

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on (re)constructing the local memorial landscape in a post-Soviet military base in Poland and the process of forging the local identity of its new inhabitants in the years 1993–2015. These processes, which occurred after thewithdrawal of Russian Federation forces from the base and the establishment of a civilian town, find their reflection in the urban space of Borne Sulinowo and are written into a broader context of state policies and national debates about the past. The aim of the article is to present how the initiative in these processes has gradually shifted from the national level to the local, causing fragmentation and pluralisation of the collective memory. In this context certain significance can be attributed to the need to comply with EU standards, and to the progress of commercialisation of the past related to the development of tourism.

  • Issue Year: IX/2015
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 21-40
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: English