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An eternally grateful refugee? : Silences in Swedish public discourse and the (de)historicization of Polish-Swedish activist Ludwika Broel-Plater

Martínez, Victoria Van Orden LU (2025) p.203-223
Abstract
This chapter examines how the history and legacy of Polish-Swedish activist Ludwika Broel-Plater have been obscured in Swedish public discourse, in which she is recognized mainly as a passive and grateful recipient of Swedish humanitarianism. The first part of the chapter examines silences that have entered narrative constructions in Swedish public discourse about survivors who came to Sweden as repatriates in 1945 and how these have contributed to creating embedded narratives about Broel-Plater and refugees of the early postwar period more generally. Second, it begins to construct an alternative narrative that recognizes Broel-Plater’s historical significance by using her own and other neglected source material. In doing so, the chapter... (More)
This chapter examines how the history and legacy of Polish-Swedish activist Ludwika Broel-Plater have been obscured in Swedish public discourse, in which she is recognized mainly as a passive and grateful recipient of Swedish humanitarianism. The first part of the chapter examines silences that have entered narrative constructions in Swedish public discourse about survivors who came to Sweden as repatriates in 1945 and how these have contributed to creating embedded narratives about Broel-Plater and refugees of the early postwar period more generally. Second, it begins to construct an alternative narrative that recognizes Broel-Plater’s historical significance by using her own and other neglected source material. In doing so, the chapter counters conventional narratives of survivors of Nazi persecution in Sweden as refugees and thus enhances the possibilities of understanding forced migration of the period in transnational contexts. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Holocaust aftermath studies, Holocaust, forced migration, forced migrants, The Ravensbrück Archive, Poland, Sweden, concentration camp survivors, The Polish Research Institute in Lund, Ludwika Broel-Plater, Ravensbrück concentration camp, women's archives, gender, archives, The Second World War
host publication
Forced Migrants in Nordic History
editor
Leinonen, Johanna ; Tervonen, Miika ; Frøland, Hans Otto ; Hoffmann, Christhard ; Jalagin, Seija ; Vad Jønsson, Heidi and Thor Tureby, Malin
pages
203 - 223
publisher
Helsinki University Press
ISBN
978-952-369-132-2
978-952-369-131-5
978-952-369-130-8
DOI
10.33134/HUP-32-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
94e99e81-2dc6-4e1b-9072-ee6c209ec34a
date added to LUP
2025-06-26 16:25:23
date last changed
2025-07-11 16:22:38
@inbook{94e99e81-2dc6-4e1b-9072-ee6c209ec34a,
  abstract     = {{This chapter examines how the history and legacy of Polish-Swedish activist Ludwika Broel-Plater have been obscured in Swedish public discourse, in which she is recognized mainly as a passive and grateful recipient of Swedish humanitarianism. The first part of the chapter examines silences that have entered narrative constructions in Swedish public discourse about survivors who came to Sweden as repatriates in 1945 and how these have contributed to creating embedded narratives about Broel-Plater and refugees of the early postwar period more generally. Second, it begins to construct an alternative narrative that recognizes Broel-Plater’s historical significance by using her own and other neglected source material. In doing so, the chapter counters conventional narratives of survivors of Nazi persecution in Sweden as refugees and thus enhances the possibilities of understanding forced migration of the period in transnational contexts.}},
  author       = {{Martínez, Victoria Van Orden}},
  booktitle    = {{Forced Migrants in Nordic History}},
  editor       = {{Leinonen, Johanna and Tervonen, Miika and Frøland, Hans Otto and Hoffmann, Christhard and Jalagin, Seija and Vad Jønsson, Heidi and Thor Tureby, Malin}},
  isbn         = {{978-952-369-132-2}},
  keywords     = {{Holocaust aftermath studies; Holocaust; forced migration; forced migrants; The Ravensbrück Archive; Poland; Sweden; concentration camp survivors; The Polish Research Institute in Lund; Ludwika Broel-Plater; Ravensbrück concentration camp; women's archives; gender; archives; The Second World War}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{06}},
  pages        = {{203--223}},
  publisher    = {{Helsinki University Press}},
  title        = {{An eternally grateful refugee? : Silences in Swedish public discourse and the (de)historicization of Polish-Swedish activist Ludwika Broel-Plater}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.33134/HUP-32-9}},
  doi          = {{10.33134/HUP-32-9}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}