ECHOES OF ERASURE: POLAND’S MEMORY AND IDENTITY

With the invasion of Poland in 1939, Nazi Germany set the stage for conflict and strife that has repercussions to this day. Jadwiga Biskupska is an expert on Poland under Nazi occupation and she joins podcast editor Ron Granieri to discuss the intricate relationship between Poland's historical memory and its contemporary identity. Their discussion particularly focuses on the impact of World War II on Polish national identity, the complexities of remembering the war under the shadow of communism, and the nuances of historical debate in modern Poland. The conversation underscores the enduring significance of the wartime experience in shaping Poland's national consciousness and its evolving relationship with its past.

For Poles, the fact that that war began on the 1st of September 1939 is something that can't really be removed from public consciousness. They, the Poles, by definition, were there.

Jadwiga Biskupska is associate professor of military history at Sam Houston State University and co-director of the Second World War Research Group, North America. She received her PhD from Yale University. Her first book, Survivors: Warsaw under Nazi Occupation, was published in 2022 with Cambridge University Press and won the Heldt Prize and an honorable mention  for the Witold Pilecki International Book Award.

The views expressed in this presentation are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. Army War College, U.S. Army, or Department of Defense.

Photo Description: Suppression of Warsaw Ghetto Uprising - Captured Jews are led by German Waffen SS soldiers to the assembly point for deportation (Umschlagplatz). The woman at the head of the column, on the left, is Yehudit Neyer (born Tolub). She is holding onto the right arm of her mother-in-law. The child is the daughter of Yehudit and her husband, Avraham Neyer, who can be seen to the girl's left. Avraham was a member of the Bund. Of the four, only Avraham survived the war. Between 19 April and 16 May 1943.

Photo Credit: Unknown author (Franz Konrad confessed to taking some of the photographs, the rest was probably taken by photographers from Propaganda Kompanie nr 689.