Pomnik w Uroczysku Jaroszówka – świadek akcji komasacji gruntów w II Rzeczpospolitej

Abstract

The article presents research concerning historical memory in micro scale on the example of a monument erected by a Bialystok burgher Konstanty Kozyrski in 1937 in the Jaroszówka area. Although Kozyrski’s foundation assumed the form of a religious artefact, it was not a simple expression of religiousness, or an ordinary request for the care of supernatural forces. First of all, this action was a physical manifestation of the family’s memory and identity which did not correspond to ethnic and religious consciousness of the majority of their neighbours. Moreover, it was an attempt to legitimise the Kozyrskis’ land ownership in the period of the integration action ran by the state authorities in Poland’s twenty years of independence after World War I. The article shows the alienation of the family from the local community: the Kozyrskis were the newcomers, who emphasized their connection with the town, not the country, they were the members of the Orthodox Church, and they stood out economically owing to preferential legislation under Russification run by the Russian Empire.