Monuments of Oblivion: Forgetting, Prosthetic Memory and the Polish Nation.

In the sixteenth century, the Polish nobility created a concept of the noble nation, which excluded the peasants. As modern national identities emerged in the nineteenth century, this concept was extended to include other strata of the population living in the Polish lands. When peasants acquired the national identity, they also acquired the memory of a noble and national past that was not theirs. The article demonstrates this process by examining roadside shrines erected by peasants to celebrate the abolition of serfdom and as a sign of gratitude to the emperors of Russia and Austria for their emancipation. After Poland regained independence, many of these shrines were converted into memorials to Polish national heroes, thus erasing peasant remembrance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]