Workshop on Archiving the History of Polish Exile in Great BritainUniversity of Manchester

22nd February 2013

The Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum

http://www.kresy-siberia.org

George NeisserUniversity of Manchester

The Kresy-Siberia Virtual Museum in Context

• Digitalisation– Digital communications– ‘Community Interfaces’

• The KS Virtual Museum• Some issues

– Construction– Collective memories

Digitisation, Transformation, Representation

Digital Archive

Books, diaries, Documents, minutes

Photographs, images, audio, video Testimonies,

interviews

Communications media

Community InterfacesWebsites/Virtual/Museums/Facebook/NewTechnologies

Objectives Of The KS Virtual Museum

• To tell the unknown story of Polish Post War Forced exile – Deportations to Siberia– Deportations to Germany– Polish contributions to victory in World War II– Yalta, Soviet hegemony over Poland, loss of

sovereignty– The obligation to remain in exile– Development of the worldwide Polish Diaspora

• To establish a ‘virtual’ place of remembrance

Implementation of Objectives

• Create narratives• Selection of materials from existing archives

– Sikorski Institute– Hoover Institute

• Oral testimonies• Uploading of individual family histories:

letters, diaries, photographs, etc….

Museum Design

• Museum galleries• Survivor testimonies• Wall of names• Hall of memories• Special exhibitions• Reference centre

Museum Galleries

Survivor Testimonies

A fully completed Biographical Profile

• Life before WWII

• Deportation

• Military Service

• Life after WWII

Some Issues

• What does a Virtual Museum represent?–Many oral histories–Different regions, countries, viewpoints

and perspectives–Different identities and collective

memories?