Delineating memoryscapes: Auschwitz versus Oświęcim

TY - JOUR

T1 - Delineating memoryscapes

T2 - Auschwitz versus Oświęcim

AU - Van De Putte, Thomas

PY - 2019/6/21

Y1 - 2019/6/21

N2 - This article explores how inhabitants of the town of Oświęcim/Auschwitz discursively construct two memoryscapes. On the one hand, there is the ‘living’ Oświęcim, on the other hand there is the ‘dead’ Auschwitz. Demarcations between the two are fluid and their meaning depends on the person who is defining and the audience addressed. Locals draw on these memoryscapes in creating mental borders within their physical living space, especially to create disinvolvement when it comes to the Auschwitz memoryscape. The findings are based on interviews with policy makers, data gathered in two Facebook groups of inhabitants, and participant observation among those inhabitants.

AB - This article explores how inhabitants of the town of Oświęcim/Auschwitz discursively construct two memoryscapes. On the one hand, there is the ‘living’ Oświęcim, on the other hand there is the ‘dead’ Auschwitz. Demarcations between the two are fluid and their meaning depends on the person who is defining and the audience addressed. Locals draw on these memoryscapes in creating mental borders within their physical living space, especially to create disinvolvement when it comes to the Auschwitz memoryscape. The findings are based on interviews with policy makers, data gathered in two Facebook groups of inhabitants, and participant observation among those inhabitants.

KW - Auschwitz

KW - Poland

KW - collective memory

KW - deixis

KW - toponyms

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85067864415&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/17504902.2019.1625117

DO - 10.1080/17504902.2019.1625117

M3 - Article

SN - 1750-4902

JO - Holocaust Studies

JF - Holocaust Studies

ER -