Gender-Structured Transmission of Post-displacement Memory in Contemporary Poland

The chapter focuses on the memory of displacement from eastern Polish borderlands (called ‘Kresy’) which were not included in the Polish state after the World War II. Analysis is based on interviews conducted among members of Kresy-related organisations in contemporary Poland. Glowacka-Grajper shows that memory of lost lands and displacement is transmitted mainly within families and local non-governmental organisations and women became the main ‘memory makers’ in this sphere. Most interlocutors recall stories from their mothers and grandmothers as a way of establishing a link with the family’s past. The narratives often focus on the everyday aspects of family life culturally ascribed to women’s sphere, for example, various family stories, neighbour relations, the immediate surroundings and ordinary working days. The reasons for the domination of women’s narratives for the memory of displacement in contemporary Poland and its consequences are analysed in the chapter.