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Paper short abstract:

The paper will discuss the question of animals' experience during the forced migrations after the II World War. It will focus on the survival of the extreme journey to the West, and the difficulties of the adaptation on new grounds. My research is based on over 1000 memoirs of Polish migrants.

Paper long abstract:

The paper will discuss the question of animals' experience during the forced migrations after the II World War. It will focus on two stages of migratory experience. One was the survival of the extremely difficult journey from the Eastern Part of pre-war Poland to its Western parts - the former German East. The second was the adaptation to the new conditions of the inhabited territories. The Polish migrants - mostly peasants who were forced to leave their huts were often allowed to take a small number of cows, horses, and other animals with them. This was often the first experience of the journey both for peasants and animals who never had to travel on such a long distance and in such a manner (by train in a crowded car and for a very long time - sometimes even up to 8 weeks). The way animals behaved was widely described in the unique collection of memories of Polish migrants who wrote them for the popular competitions for memories in the after-war years. The descriptions of how animals acted were surprisingly numerous and focused not only on the relations of humans - non-humans and their mutual dependence but also on animals' emotional and physical condition (like fear, fatigue, and suffering, etc.). They also covered the difficult process of adaptation to new climates and rural conditions that humans and non-humans had to face. I will try to sketch the portrait of animals' migratory experience as shown in over 1000 diaries I have analyzed.