Sense of nationalism in identity development: The example of the stolen Polish children
The video here is about the stolen Polish children of World War II – where there was the erasing of the Polish identity for the stolen children to become German and then, in the instance of Alojzy Twardecki, to have his German identity 'erased' in efforts to 'resurrect' his Polish identity – take note of all the various identity development and identity shaping issues that emerge in this extract from the original documentary film. Note in particular the role of home, parents grandparents and of the school. School education and extending the cultural horizons of pupils.
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The story of Polish child Alojzy Twardecki. Aged 4 kidnapped by the SS and adopted out to a German family in 1939. A thoroughly 'Germanised and Nazified' teenager, he got trapped by the Communist regime in post-war Poland. Could his sense of identity which started as Polish and then became German go back to becoming Polish? How might he manage these pressures to change? What conclusions might be drawn about the influence of culture (nationalism, popular culture, family, ethnic) on personal identity development? What was the identity forming roles of his both his Polish and his German mothers? What was Twardecki's solution. |