Conspiring with memory: Remembering World War II in post-Communist Poland

The aim of this thesis is to explore how older residents of one Warsaw neighborhood recollect, narrate and seek to commemorate events which they experienced during World War II. Based on participant observation and life history interviews conducted from 1995--1998 with long-time and in some cases life-long residents of Zoliborz, this dissertation focuses on how the German occupation of the city permeated these individuals' lives, their remembered responses to it, and the ways in which this period of history continued to occupy their memories in the post-Communist era.; In exploring Warsovians narratives about the Second World War, I offer arguments about the factors which influenced how they recollect the war and about the narrative frames they draw on to convey their experiences to others. At the same time, I examine the ways that residents recovered from the rupture of war, suggesting that the return to normalcy was connected to efforts to physically rebuild the ruined city. Finally, I take up residents' concern that with their passing this history, much of which was only allowed public commemoration following the fall of communism in 1989, will be deemed irrelevant or forgotten by younger generations.