The aim of the project by the University of Lodz scientist is to define the main areas of war losses in the former Vilnius and Nowogródek voivodeships during the Second World War and identify Lithuanian historical discourses on this topic. The publication of an article in English in a renowned foreign scientific journal and a series of scientific-related publications disseminating the results of the conducted research will constitute the final result of the project. Based on the obtained materials, a series of podcasts entitled: "Na rubieży" will be prepared. The series will be published on the "Obserwator Młodych" website.
The project is a natural continuation of the research previously undertaken by Dr Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska, which touches on issues such as: mutual reception of Polish and Lithuanian society in the Vilnius region during the Second World War and the exploitation of local animosities by the USSR and then the Russian Federation. The University of Lodz scientist pays special attention to the historical narratives of the region, assuming that the Polish-Lithuanian experiences in this field (the Ponar massacre, the Holocaust, deportations, Sovietisation, etc.) may in the future constitute an example of good practice in building a coherent message about the Second World War with Ukraine or free Belarus.
At the beginning of 1947, the War Compensation Office of the Polish People's Republic published a document entitled "Sprawozdanie w przedmiocie strat i szkód wojennych Polski w l. 1939-1945" [Report on Poland's war losses and damage in 1939-1945]. The losses were calculated for the area within the borders of Poland in 1945, but excluding the Recovered Territories and the areas that were "ceded to the USSR", including the Vilnius and Nowogródek voivodeships. The need to fill this research gap, namely an attempt to estimate the war losses of the Vilnius region, became an impulse for me to prepare this project.
– explains Dr Barbara Jundo-Kaliszewska.
Now her research project has received recognition from the jury in the Historical Competition of the Jan Karski Institute of War Losses.
Edit: Communications and PR Centre, University of Lodz
Photos: private archive