Liberation, Resettlement, and Looting in Postwar Memoirs from Poland

Abstract

The postwar months and years in Central and Eastern Europe were marked by mass migrations caused by border changes, the return of many refugees and former prisoners to their homes, and many peoples’ search for new places to settle down in the wake of war. Population movements were often marked by a kind of social vacuum that was frequently characterized by lawlessness, plunder, and violence to which civilians were exposed. This article explores the historical and social processes at play in one case of postwar resettlement through an analysis of over one thousand memoirs written during the first three postwar decades in Poland. The memoirs were collected as part of three competitions held between 1956 and 1970. The analysis focuses on the experiences of migrants settling in western Poland in order to examine the phenomenon of mass robbery in its various forms. From both from an individual and institutional perspective, an exploration of the dynamics of looting reveals the complexity of settlement against the chaotic backdrop of the postwar period. As such, this analysis contributes to the postwar history of Poland and the scholarship on looting that accompanies armed conflicts.