Explorationen einer deutsch-polnischen Biografie. Zur Identitätsproblematik bei Emilia Smechowski

Abstract

The article presents the shaping of identity in Wir Strebermigranten (2017, title in translation We, superimmigrants) and Rückkehr nach Polen (2019). The article posits the following thesis. The crisis of identity and the impression of assimilation being disrupted in Germany as presented in both works result from the complex problem of “being in between” the German nationality and Polish nationality. The will to manage the traumatization caused by cultural interference makes the outline of a ‘double biography’ visible in both works, especially in Wir Strebermigranten. The author also makes an exhausting attempt to portray the articulation of the collective identity of the Polish migrants of the so-called second generation, who immigrated to Germany in the 1980s and early 1990s.