Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Senior Thesis
Degree
Bachelor of Arts
Primary Major
History
Second Major
Political Science
Thesis Advisor
Jordan Lieser, PhD
Abstract
The nation of Poland had a well-established national identity based on its culture, religion, language, and history prior to its occupation by the USSR, but this identity was suppressed in the sixty years of Soviet control from 1939 to 1989. After achieving their independence, Poles reexamined their history and identity, in addition to choosing which aspects of Soviet history and identity to keep or do away with. This thesis examines the relationship between public memory sites in or about Poland and the affirmation of the Polish national identity after Polish independence from the Soviet Union in 1989. Building on the existing literature on the relationship between public memory sites and monuments in affirming a nation’s identity and the collective memory of cultures whose history has been attempted to be erased, this thesis asks, to what extent do public memory sites play a role in affirming Poland’s national identity as an independent nation after gaining their independence from the Soviet Union in 1989? A historical method combined with semiotics was used to analyze seven sites and monuments dedicated to the Katýn massacre to examine how these sites have furthered Poland’s post-Soviet national identity and established collective public memory. This thesis argues that public memory sites are integral in affirming Poland’s national identity as an independent nation. The conclusion of this study is that evidence was found that links Polish national identity and the physical spaces in which history is remembered and memorialized.
Included in
Cultural History Commons, European History Commons, International Relations Commons, Models and Methods Commons, Political History Commons, Political Theory Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons