Place attachment and political violence: narratives of deportations to the Soviet Gulag and Bărăgan

This research brings into discussion the need to revisit the memory of deportation from diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives (i.e. microhistory, geography, and memory studies). It contributes to studies on place attachment through the lens of individual and collective memory regarding dramatic events with a strong negative impact on the affected local communities. In particular, our research answers the question about how distressing historical events affect people’s attachments to places. We used written testimonies (autobiographies) and interviews (written or in video format) of those who were deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and the Polar Circle, in the Soviet Union (from Northern Bukovina, nowadays Ukraine), in 1941, and to Bărăgan area (from Banat and Western Oltenia, all in Romania), in 1951. Research results indicate an affectively nuanced relationship (from love to hate or mixed feelings) regarding the place of deportation but also concerning deportees’ place of origin.