Life Turned Upside Down: Precarity in Evacuation

• In Event: Life Turned Upside Down: Memories of Soviet Evacuees and Polish Holocaust Survivors about World War II and its Aftermath

Abstract

The paper will explore the way in which precariousness defined evacuee experiences at sites of resettlement. Specifically, it will consider the way in which traditional hierarchies, systems of privilege, and family dynamics were turned upside down as a result of wartime conditions and the mass displacement people and families experienced. Evacuees found that their families' fortunes could change at the blink of an eye and had to find ways to adapt to and cope with these changes. The ability to do so often determined one's (and one's family's) wellbeing and welfare.

Author

• Natalie Belsky, U of Minnesota Duluth