Exile and Identity : Polish Women in the Soviet Union During World War II / Katherine R. Jolluck.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jolluck, Katherine R., author.

Series:

Series in Russian and East European studies.

Series in Russian and East European studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Deportation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxiv, 356 pages).

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2002.

Summary:

Using firsthand, personal accounts, and focusing on the experiences of women, Katherine R. Jolluck relates and examines the experiences of thousands of civilians deported to the USSR following the Soviet annexation of eastern Poland in 1939. Upon arrival in remote areas of the Soviet Union, they were deposited in prisons, labor camps, special settlements, and collective farms, and subjected to tremendous hardships and oppressive conditions. In 1942, some 115,000 Polish citizens--only a portion of those initially exiled from their homeland--were evacuated to Iran. There they were asked to complete extensive questionnaires about their experiences. Having read and reviewed hundreds of these documents, Jolluck reveals not only the harsh treatment these women experienced, but also how they maintained their identities as respectable women and patriotic Poles. She finds that for those exiled, the ways in which they strove to recreate home in a foreign and hostile environment became a key means of their survival. Both a harrowing account of brutality and suffering and a clear analysis of civilian experiences in wartime, Exile and Identity expands the history of war far beyond the military battlefield.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One: "Thus Began the Wandering of the Polish People": The Background to Exile

1. "We Were Seized by Utter Despair": From Invasion to Exile

2. "The Element that Was Dangerous for 'Our Liberators' ": The Women of This Study

Part Two: "After All, I Am a Polish Woman": Self-Definition through the Experience of Exile

3. "Women Were Treated the Same as Men": Labor in Exile

4. "As Long as There Is Still a Polish Woman, There Will Also Be a Polish Question": Family and Nation

5. "Homeless in Her Own Body": The Body and Sexuality

Part Three: "We Polish Women Were a Model of Unity before Their Citizens": Self-Definition through the Delineation of "Others

6. "They Abused Our Fatherland": Coexisting with the National Minorities

7. "Barely Distinguishable from Animals": Encountering Asia

8. "You Can't Even Call Them Women": Condemning the Russians

Conclusion

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Illustrations.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780822970675

0822970678