Memorial plaques – small forms of collective memory Małgorzata Fabiszak & Anna Weronika Brzezińska

Theoretical background Ritual & ceremony Group unity & identity Collective vs. collected memory Durkheim (1915) Halbwachs (1992) Olick (1999)

Figures of memory Metonymic triggers of c. memory (J. Assmann 2010)

Research goals to develop a systematic method of semiotic analysis of memorial plaques as a specific genre of figures of memory want to answer the question to what extent are the Jewish and German citizens of Poznań from before the WWII commemorated in the Poznan memorial landscape by means of commemoration plaques. At the methodological level, it aims to develop a systematic method of semiotic analysis of memorial plaques as a specific genre of figures of memory. At the descriptive level, we want to answer the question to what extent are the Jewish and German citizens of Poznań from before the WWII commemorated in the Poznan memorial landscape by means of commemoration plaques.

Memorial plaques – method of selection Linguistic landscape methodology Tourist route through the Old Town, the Emperial Quarter, the Citadel So far 42 plaques from the Old Town

Analytic categories Socio-political context Local context of placement Material features Textual analysis Year of dedication Position Material Memory figure Founder Other elements of the context Shape Commemorated period Other plaques Ornaments Language of inscription Lettering

Paganini / Liszt / Wieniawski gave concerts here Position: slightly above eye level, easy to read Shape: rectangular Material: concrete Ornaments: two violins and a piano Memory figure: musicians/concerts Language: Polish

Robert Remak – a doctor and scientist of three nations: Jewish, Polish, German Year of dedication: 26th of sept. 2005 Founder: PTHMiF (Polish Society of the History of Medicine and Pharmacy) Position: Well above human height Elements of context: On the building of the State Archive, opposite the building, in which he lived Material: concrete Shape: rectangular Ornaments: portrait medalion, lilliy of the valley Lg of inscription: Polish, Hebrew, German

Elements of context

Krzysztof Komeda Trzciński Ornament: portrait in base relief; piano keys of uneven size – visual metonymy for syncopation – metonymy for jazz

Jan Paderewski Year of dedication: [1928] 1978 – memory of memory Founders: an association of the societies of the participants of the uprising in Wielkopolska vs. Wielkopolska society Topos of gemeinschaft Topos of homogeneity

The (in)visible plaque Ul. Podgórna 6 1837-1846 – Karol Marcinkowski lived here – commemorated with a plaque 1847 – Paul von Hindenburg was born here (plaque 1939-1945)

Former Evangelical House City Information System Information not commemoration plaque Material: plexi Remembering but not commemorating

Concluding remarks – 1/2 The analytic grid: Position and elements of the context Material: the meanings of concrete Founders: societies vs. the society Year of dedication: peaks in the 1950s (4), 1980s (5) and 2000s (3) (25 nd) Commemorated Period: Partitions (19), Wielkopolska Uprising (6), post WWII (6) (Warning: the Citadel not included yet) …

Concluding remarks 2/2 Who and what do we commemorate on the plaques: 5x musicians (Paderewski, Paganini, Wieniawski, Liszt, Komeda), 4x doctors (Marcinkowski, Struś, Chróściejowski, Remak), 4x writers (Sienkiewiczx2, Kraszewski, Fiedler), 2x social activists (Cegielski, Jaśkowiak, Szulc), 2x architects (Quadro, Zieliński), 1 bookseller (Żupański), 2x soldiers (Dąbrowski, Wybicki, Leszczyński) 2x Jewish history (Remak, the Holocaust) Prussian past remembered but not commemorated (information vs. Commemoration plaque)

“Collective memory, collective identity and urban landscape: A case study of Poznan” Grant number 2013/09/B/HS6/00374 financed by the National Science Centre The project is conducted in a collaboration between Faculty of English, AMU and Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, AMU

fagosia@wa.amu.edu.pl

Some references Carr, Gillian. 2011. “Examining the memorialscape of occupation and liberation:A case study from the Channel Islands”. International Journal of Heritage Studies DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2011.606330 Durkheim, Émile. 1915. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. Translated by Joseph Ward Swain. London: George, Allen and Unwin. Halbwachs, Maurice. 1980. The Collective memory. Translated by Francis J. Ditter Jr and Vida Yazdi Ditter. New York: Harper and Row. Kazimierczak, Jarosław. 2010. “Memorial plaques and monuments in Łódź-Śródmieście (the city centre district) commemorating people and events from the history of the city.” Tourism 20/1: 11-16. Kempa, Andrzej – Marta Zawadzka. 2007. Tablice Pamięci. Łódź: Wojewódzka i Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna im. Marszałka Józefa Piłsudskiego w Łodzi. Olick, Jeffrey K. 1999. “Collective memory: The two cultures”. Sociological Theory 17(3): 338-348.