Emocje i barwy pamięci

Abstract

Memories do not restrict space and landscapes exclusively to their material, geographical, or physical aspects. The narrations on the places important to one’s biography include emotions which not only are expressed directly, but also – and more frequently – are implied by the composition of a story, word choice, and references to colors and shades. Moreover, interviews rarely include the straightforward descriptions of landscapes extracted from one’s past, but they focus on the emotions connected to them instead. In such a context, skipping the description and silence in general might be in fact meaningful and significant. This paper is devoted to the interviews with the inhabitants of the Upper Silesia region who migrated after 1970 with regard to the documents confirming their German descent, literature, and visual materials. Furthermore, this tackles the memory of one’s birthplace in the context of migration. Finally, it analyzes the elements of narration that refer to both the places remembered from childhood and those that are linked to the current place of living.