The Name of the City – Social Memory and Oblivion: Wrocław Case

Abstract

In this paper, the author raises the question about the role of the study of oiconyms in the memory studies approach. The problem presented is the relationship between the city’s past (and culturally alien) name and the contemporary construction of its past and modern identity. The main thread discussed is the construction of the presence/absence of the pre-war name Breslau in the contemporary discourses about the city’s past of Wrocław’s elites and inhabitants. To present the issue the author analysed samples of the discursive strategies derived from academic (historical and literary) discourses and from colloquial discourses of Wrocław inhabitants (thirty in-depth narrative interviews).

Keywords

• city name
• social memory
• oblivion
• discourse analysis
• Breslau
• Wrocław