„Kiedy rozpoczęła się wojna (…) byłem jeszcze mały (…)”. Wypracowania szkolne pisane w roku 1946 jako źródło do badania dziecięcych autobiografii

Abstract

In this article, using the example of a collection of source materials - school essays relating to World War II, written in various parts of Poland in 1946 and collected by the Ministry of Education in Warsaw, some of which are now stored at the Archives of New Records in Warsaw - I try to show their autobiographical potential, and why it is necessary to make a distinction between autobiography and testimony in the case of the sources discussed . I draw attention to the connection between the genre of verbal creativity, which is the school essay, and children's writing practices, as well as the impact of these practices on the autobiographical nature of essays. Using selected examples taken from school texts, I demonstrate the possibility of using them to analyze the ways in which children construct their autobiography.

Keywords

• school essays
• children's written works
• creativity
• testimony
• writing practices