Poland, Reexamined
In memory studies, the category of 'second-generation' is well-established within the historiography of WW2. It encompasses the exploration of transgenerational trauma, broken narratives, commemoration and testimony as part of the legacy carried by those born to holocaust survivors. But to what extent are those same categories helpful in exploring the legacy carried by the children of (non-Jewish) Poles who fought in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944? Are these same categories 'wide enough' to map the impact of war on a generation contending with variable historical factors?
Silenced for over four decades during Communist rule in Poland, from 1945 until 1989, the Warsaw Uprising was delegitimized by the Soviet-backed regime and presented as a rogue event, one that was doomed to failure. Those who fought in the Uprising (its heroes) were viewed as traitors and threatened with imprisonment or death. Expelled from the country they fought to preserve, the surviving fighters were scattered across the world, carrying with them not only their concealed history but an inability to stake a claim in Poland's history, leaving the second generation with a legacy that remains unworked through and unfinished. This paper examines the relevance and impact of 'second-generation' categories and generational memory in the specific context of the Warsaw Uprising.
