Delineating memoryscapes: Auschwitz versus Oświęcim. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Van de Putte, Thomas
• Is Part Of: Holocaust studies. Volume 27:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 91
• Page End: 105
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: Auschwitz -- collective memory -- toponyms -- deixis -- Poland; Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 940.5318
• DOI: 10.1080/17504902.2019.1625117
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-4902

Abstract

ABSTRACT: 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.