The Manuscript as an Act of Resistance Against Oblivion: Józef Złomaniec’s Private Archive of Memory and the Politics of Remembrance

Abstract

The article examines the relationship between private and institutional memory through a microhistorical and communicative-memory reading of Józef Złomaniec’s unpublished handwritten chronicle (2005–2012). We treat the manuscript as an ego-document and a “micro-site of memory” where individual experience becomes part of communal heritage. Using qualitative content analysis and contextual interpretation, we triangulate the narrative with selected Institute of National Remembrance records (e.g., the 1946 Biłgoraj security report) to verify credibility and anchor the text in the local postwar topography of violence. The manuscript has not been published; its audience has so far been limited (28 readers in a research setting). Accordingly, we treat it as a private memory archive / micro-site of memory in statu nascendi, rather than as an operative component of state memory politics. To capture evolving memory forms, we contrast the manuscript’s material durability with ephemeral media narratives (e.g., the Tomasz Komenda case), highlighting tensions between reflective writing and the immediacy of digital communication. Findings support both hypotheses: (1) the chronicle meets key criteria of a micro-site of memory (authenticity, materiality, intergenerational address, local rootedness), and (2) Findings indicate that bottom-up memory co-exists complementarily with official memory politics – providing ethical and affective depth – while public institutions offer verification, circulation, and durability. We conclude that integrating micro-testimonies into anniversary practices and public repositories fosters a more plural and inclusive culture of memory and historical consciousness.

The case underscores how a quiet, family archive can inform public remembrance and everyday historical awareness at the local level.