Memory and Oblivion. Sociocultural post-war change of Jugów (Hausdorf) in the Owl Mountains

Our project focuses on forced displacements after the Second World War. Jugów, formerly Hausdorf in the Owl Mountains, was one of many places subjected to population exchange after 1945. The majority of German inhabitants was gradually displaced, their houses being taken over by displaced Poles and Ukrainians who had escaped from the territories annexed by the Soviet Union or by Polish remigrants from France. As men were still in the army, mainly women and children were affected by flight and expulsion. Official history mostly being written by men, the specific experience shared by women went unnoticed. Using the methods of Oral History we will interview women from four different families, representing three generations of Jugów inhabitants. We wish to reveal the layers of tradition that evolved with time as well as and the specific social memory cultivated by the affected women in the context of their everyday life.