ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY IN POZNA Faculty of English

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ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY IN POZNAŃ Faculty of English Collective memory, collective identity and urban

ADAM MICKIEWICZ UNIVERSITY IN POZNAŃ Faculty of English Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: Poznań regional online media and their readers Małgorzata Fabiszak, WA UAM and Anna Weronika Brzezińska, IEi. AK UAM wa. amu. edu. pl

Study academic context “Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of

Study academic context “Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan” Grant number 2013/09/B/HS 6/00374 financed by the National Science Centre The project is conducted in a collaboration between Faculty of English, AMU and Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, AMU 2

Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan Research Questions:

Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan Research Questions: (1) How does changing city landscape (in particular liquidation of cemeteries) affect local knowledge, collective memory and identity? (2) Is it generation specific? (3) Are there differences in the representation of local identity and collective memory by the news media, city elites and grassroots citizens? 3

Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan Types of

Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan Types of data: (1) information websites, city blogs and below the line comments (2) local newspapers (3) interviews with the city elites (4) focus interviews with four generations of Poznanians born in the 1930 s, 1950 s, 1970 s and 1990 s. 4

Socio-historical context of the present study 5

Socio-historical context of the present study 5

Historical Background • 1793 -1920 Poznan and Wielkopolska region under Prussian rule • 1807

Historical Background • 1793 -1920 Poznan and Wielkopolska region under Prussian rule • 1807 esttablishing of the oldest exisiting Poznan Cemetery of the St Adalbert parish • 1919 -1920 Wielkopolska Uprising • 1939 -1945 Poznan and Wielkopolska incorporated into the III Reich as Warthegau – expulsions of Poles 38, 000 from Poznan, 630, 000 from Warthegau – 1940 German plans to develop the city, liquidation of cemeteries in the city centre – 1944 Allied bombings • 1945 Poznan liberated / captured by the Red Army • 1950 s liquidation of cemeteries by the Polish administration 6

The ethnic composition of Poznan 18001944 [Topolski 1988 -, Trzeciakowska – Trzeciakowski 1982] 7

The ethnic composition of Poznan 18001944 [Topolski 1988 -, Trzeciakowska – Trzeciakowski 1982] 7

Research questions (1) How the image of collective memory of the past religious/ethnic variation

Research questions (1) How the image of collective memory of the past religious/ethnic variation created by city media differ or coincide with that created by the grassroots website readers? (2) What effect do the urban landscape variables such as the denomination of the cemetery (Jewish, Protestant, Catholic) or its administrative status (liquidated or closed) have on their discursive representation by the media and the grassroots readers of these websites? 8

Keyword: cemetery • cemetery as a feature of the urban landscape uniting the private

Keyword: cemetery • cemetery as a feature of the urban landscape uniting the private memory with the official • war cemeteries at Citadel • Cemetery of the Distinguished Wielkopolska Citizens • Jezyce Cemetery • Miłostowo Cemetery • Górczyn Catholic Parish Cemetery 9

Us and our graves Poznan Corpus Polish National Corpus • • • (Wielkopolska) insurgents

Us and our graves Poznan Corpus Polish National Corpus • • • (Wielkopolska) insurgents soldiers family and friends (bliscy) Cegielski’s [Distinguished] [Wielkopolska Citizens] tzadik (pos. 7) soldiers mass soldiers the killed insurgents (pos. 71) 10

The community of soldiers Infor websites and blogs Comments • Cemetery of the Distinguished

The community of soldiers Infor websites and blogs Comments • Cemetery of the Distinguished Wielkopolska Citizens • Wielkopolska Insurgents • Polish, Soviet and German soldiers • German soldiers vs. occupants, invaders, Nazi bandits who murdered Polish civilians vs. these boys had parents, sisters, brothers, girlfriends • liberating vs. occupation by the Soviet army 11

Keyword analysis Media Comments • • • grave robbers (hieny cmentarne) • occupants •

Keyword analysis Media Comments • • • grave robbers (hieny cmentarne) • occupants • soldiers • Grandpa • Grandma • camps • Nazi (hitlerowskie) Citadel St. Adalbert soldiers (commemoration) ceremonies • Wielkopolska Insurgents • Distinguished Wielkopolska Citizens 12

Palimpsest of memory Citadel Cemetery Jezyce cemetery • local memory – Wielkopolska Insurgents –

Palimpsest of memory Citadel Cemetery Jezyce cemetery • local memory – Wielkopolska Insurgents – Victims of Zabikowo and Fort VII KZL – June 1956 victims • national memory – the Citadel volunteers – the Red Army soldiers – the British Commonwealth airmen – graves of 19 th c. community workers: Wawrzyniak • national memory – mass graves of the victims of Luftwaffe bombing in September 1939 – soldiers of September 1939 – January insurgent: Grzymała-Prądzyński 13

Us vs. Them: the otherness of Poznan Jews • Europeanness • assimilation to German

Us vs. Them: the otherness of Poznan Jews • Europeanness • assimilation to German culture • Lasara Abramowitsch Raiman –Jewish or Russian • the commemoration of Akiva Eger 14

Re-framing of memory • reconstruction vs. last trace, last preserved/remaining fragment of the JC

Re-framing of memory • reconstruction vs. last trace, last preserved/remaining fragment of the JC • Skupin’s memorial to the Polish Workers Party victims of WWII > victims of 1939 -1956 (http: //www. januszmarciniak. pl/backyard) 15

Interdiscursivity • Re-use of gravestones 16

Interdiscursivity • Re-use of gravestones 16

Conclusions (1) commentaries more varied, with stronger, emotional language and phrases from the communist

Conclusions (1) commentaries more varied, with stronger, emotional language and phrases from the communist historical discourse (2) the otherness of Wielkopolska in the Warsaw oriented dominant historical narrative (3) the otherness of the Poznan Jews (4) the community of soldiers (post-transformation) 17

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