The fate of ancestors living in the countryside in family accounts and in-home archives. The “My Family” Project implemented in 2022 by students of the Institute of History of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce

Abstract

The present article contains an introduction (describing problems in the study of microhistory and distinguishing groups interested in these types of considerations), the characteristics of interviews and written papers and the conclusions drawn from them. The basis for its creation was the “My Family” Project, consisting of three elements: students’ written papers, a recording of an interview with a family member (preferably a grandmother or grandfather) and a presentation at a conference. The project was carried out in the summer semester of 2022 with second-year B.A. students at the Institute of History of the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce as part of “The historian’s research methods” classes. Students involved in this initiative also took part in a conference entitled “My Family as an Archival Source” (as part of the “Meetings with an Archival Source” series), which took place on September 28, 2022. A report on this event was written by one of the students participating in the project. The first part of the project consisted of student interviews with family members. Parents and grandparents discussed topics such as the history of their ancestors, the years of German and Soviet occupation, and everyday life. The representatives of the older generation focused on telling about their experience of World War II in small towns of today’s Świętokrzyskie province, while the students’ parents discussed the dull reality of the Polish People’s Republic. The interviews concerning the occupation period were emotional; they show the savagery of the Germans murdering Polish ­civilians and indicate that historians have not yet worked through this issue. Students’ papers deal with the unique history of their ancestors. The topics discussed in them mainly concern the fate of the authors’ great-grandparents and grandparents. The texts describe the realities of Kielce villages during World War II, as well as the hardships of everyday life. The overwhelming majority of the ancestors of the students participating in the project lived in the countryside, having peasant or landowning origins. The article ends with conclusions presented by students during the discussion summarizing the project. Student papers can encourage readers to research their family’s past. Every history student should know the history of their family.