Żydzi w pamięci zbiorowej współczesnych mieszkańców Zabrza i Gliwic

The dissertation refers to the subject of the city and the collective memory concerning the Jewish society. (...) The research is unique due to two historical events that are responsible for current social and demographical structure of Zabrze and Gliwice. Firstly, before 1945 these cities (along with the rest of western part of Upper Silesia) belonged to German state. Secondly, the migration movements after 1945 led to exchange of citizens on the large scale. Most of autochthons left the cities (and the country), and their place was taken by migrants from another parts from Poland, from “the East” and re-emigrants from Western Europe. The main purpose of the research was to define the content of the collective memory of current Zabrze and Gliwice citizens – the memory referring to the Jewish society. Secondly, it focused on remembering and forgetting processes that are responsible for current state of the memory. Thirdly, the research led to identification of sites of memory referring to Jews that are present in the memory of respondents. The collective memory is understood as shared pool of memories consisting of autobiographical and socially acquired elements that underwent selection and transformation processes leading to unification in presentation of the past. The collective memory is dynamic and variable process and its construction consist of three levels: individual memory in the social context, unified collective memory and the official memory. (...