Mapping the Social Values of Difficult Heritage Sites: A Case Study of the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice (Poland)

This paper discusses the results of ethnographic research conducted during the project Science for Society, Society for Science at the Site of National Remembrance in Łambinowice. It focuses on recognition of the contemporary significance of post-camp sites in Łambinowice (formerly Lamsdorf) for local communities and other heritage stakeholders as well as examines different attitudes and values towards Lamsdorf’s past and its wartime heritage. Apart from what can be called the ‘official’ perspective of the heritage which operates within the ‘authorised heritage discourse’, mainly represented by the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War and archaeologists working at former camp sites, the remnants of Lamsdorf also generate a plethora of other values derived from bottom-up approaches. Consequently, a comparison between the official perspective and local positions will be made in order to analyse various views and valuations of the painful heritage.