Leben zwischen den Grenzen. Zur ethnischen Selbstwahrnehmung polnischsprachiger Einwohner des Gebiets zwischen den polnischen Ostgrenzen von 1939 und 1945

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Identitetas; Kalbos keitimas; Kalbos keitimasis; Lenkija (Lenkijos karalystė. Kingdom of Poland. Poland); Sienų perkėlimas; Sienų poslinkiai; Tautinė savimonė; Identity; Language change; Lithuania; National identity; Shifting of borders; Baltarusija (Belarus).

ENWith the shift of the borders after 1945, the eastern territory of Poland was connected to Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. Yet many of the people living in this area still consider themselves in different ways as “Poles”. They refer to the fact that their families always had lived in this area which belonged to Poland in the interwar period. Furthermore they consider themselves as of Polish origin. The former eastern Polish border that existed until World War II and disappeared from today’s maps is still very present for them: when talking to families which kept the consciousness of being Polish after the shift of the borders, we can observe the border’s former existence in their use of language, in attitudes towards languages and in conscious distinguishing from the “others” from the other side of the former border – the Belarusians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and Russians. The inhabitants’ ethnical self-perception can be analysed in the light of the changing political conditions. It turns out to be very manifold, since not only big changes on a governmental scale have an impact on the people (as the shift of the borders itself), but in particular factors on a micro-cultural level (which came along with the shift of the borders) had regionally and individually very different influence on single persons. The article bases on empirical case studies from interviews conducted in Belarus and Lithuania. The area of research is the former north-eastern territory of Poland belonging to Lithuania and Belarus today. In the article, a historical localization of the area will be followed by sections of the qualitative evaluation of the interviews. They will illustrate, how the political game with the borders and the administration of the borderlands shape life in this area and how it frames the cultural life in the region. [From the publication]

• Sociologija / Sociology
• Istorija / History