Lived Experiences of Borders and Displacement in (post)war Eastern Europe

On 9 September 1944, a treaty was signed between the Ukrainian SSR and the newly formed Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN) about population exchange between Communist Poland and Soviet Ukraine. Massive forced resettlements were to put interethnic conflicts to an end, stabilize the borders, suppress the anti-Soviet resistance, and thus create monoethnic nations loyal to their respective governments. This process, officially named "exchange of populations", led to the radical disappearance of minorities in Eastern and Central Europe and resulted in a heavily diminished coexistence of people of diverse faiths, languages, and cultures, as noted by István Deák. This loss of diversity can be defined as the most important change not only in the social, cultural, political, and economic life of the region, but also in the life of specific places — from large cities to small towns and villages — as well as neighborhoods, families, and even personal lives. The research focus on political aspects, international relations dimension, and on the mass scale of the process, left the experiences of communities, groups, institutions, families, and individuals in the shadows. Moreover, the use of the essentialist language which classified people in accordance with strict ethnic categories, such as "Ukrainians" and "Poles", contributed to the domination of national histories perspective and lack of sensitivity to other identifications and experiences. This seminar is aimed at promotion of research and teaching of the border changes, displacement, and population exchange which focuses on social history and balances the perspectives from "above" and "below", with special emphasis on individual and group experiences in their complexity.

This one-day seminar combines research and educational programs by inviting scholars to share primary sources that can be used for university teaching, as well as to intensify methodological discussions focused on the specifics of the selected sources. During the seminar, the speakers will present selected sources and methodological approaches to them, focusing on several areas:

• experiences of different actors, especially those with less power and agency, including rank-and-file administrators, decision-makers, professionals (from local communities heads to railway workers);
• families and social networks of displaced people;
• less visible groups: the identifications lost in the "big picture", such as Holocaust survivors, those who were expected to leave but stayed,  (un)welcomed newcomers filling in the social void (such as newcomers from other Soviet republics to new western Soviet borderlands), among others;
• ruptures and connectivities between dispersed communities, old and new places;
• animals as a key asset, actor, or subject in the story of displacement;
• things: what to take, what to leave, lost things, acquired things.

We would also have a chance to discuss the entangled positionality of researchers, especially personal and family stories behind the research of displacement and exile.

This workshop is a part of a series of workshops around the Center’s educational platform REESOURCES. Rethinking Eastern Europe, which is designed as a collaborative space for sharing research and teaching materials on the region. Previous workshops took place at Ludwig Maximilian University in March 2025, Davis Center at Harvard University in November 2024, and Princeton University in November 2023. 

As the result of the workshop, the sources presented at the workshop will be published on the platform in the following months. The sources would be translated and made available in original languages as well as in Ukrainian and English translations.  

Organizing Committee at the Center for Urban History

• Iryna Sklokina 
• Sofia Dyak 
• Ivanna Cherchovych

Logistics

• Sofia Andrusyshyn

Participants

• Ivanna Cherchovych (Center for Urban History)
• Petro Dolhanov (Rivne Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education)
• Viktor Drozdov (Izmail State University of the Humanities)
• Sofia Dyak (Center for Urban History)
• Catherine Gousseff (Centre for Russian, Caucasian and Central European Studies)
• Dominika Gruziel (European University Institute) via Zoom
• Julia Grieder (University of Basel)
• Pavlo Hudish (Uzhhorod National University)
• Uliana Kyrchiv (Ukrainian Catholic University)
• Ela Kwiecińska (Polish Academy of Science)
• Iryna Sklokina (Center for Urban History)
• Yevhenii Samborskyi (Nadvirna Technical College)
• Andriy Usach (NGO After Silence)
• Nadia Pastukh (independent researcher)

Credits

Cover Image: State Archives of Odessa Region. / f. p-7746. ф. р-7746. / оп. 1. / спр. 11