Voices of the Past: Reconstruction of the Vanished Nieznajowa Community

The deportation of the Lemkos (considered to be Ukrainians) from their native territories in the Subcarpathian region and the Polish Voivodship of Małopolska is a little known chapter in the deportation history of post-war Europe. The project focuses on the case of Nieznajowa village that ceased to exist after the forced movement of its Lemko inhabitants during the "Operation Vistula" in 1947. Within the project a series of life story narrative interviews with former Nieznajowa inhabitants currently living in western Ukraine will be conducted. By piecing together the history of the destruction of one Lemko village community and how it is remembered by individual witnesses, the project wants to assess how the memory of the deportation has transformed and been passed on within Lemko families to present times. An important aspect will also be the creation of a space of memory – consisting of an artistic installation – at the site of the former Nieznajowa village.  

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Project team

• Natalia Hladyk
• Björn Jungius
• Oleksiy Kachmar
• Mrs. Julia Kysla