„Ojczyzna to ziemia i groby". Polskie oblicze cmentarzy katolickich na Wileńszczyźnie

Abstract

The cemetery is a space of multi-semantic expression. Cemeteries in the Vilnius region have been referred to as ,,History Books of the Polish Nation" in the former Polish borderlands, regardless of the fame or obscurity of the people interred there. Because cemeteries serve as a repository for the traditions, culture and language of the society that created them, they have often become symbolic reference points which testify to the cultural imprint of a nationality in contested land. Awareness that a cemetery represents the legacy and history of a people has sometimes made these places targets of vandalism and destruction by rival groups during periods of ethnic and religious tension. The language of inscriptions are consecrated to the sacred memory of the deceased, to the world of the dead, and therefore historically were not bound by official rules about national language imposed by outside powers. The presence of epitaphs in the Polish language, which for about century in Lithuania have ceased to be primarily assertions of Catholic faith, are now usually seen to be self-declarations of Polish national identity.