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Article published In: Narrative Inquiry
Vol. 27:1 (2017) ► pp.24–46

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Tellability, frame and silence

The emergence of internment memory

 | University of Helsinki, Folklore Studies / LIVINGMEMORIES-project
Published online: 3 August 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.27.1.02sav
Abstract
On the basis of the September 1944 Moscow Armistice agreement between Finland, the Soviet Union and the UK, the Finnish government was obliged to intern German and Hungarian citizens in Finland. Applying the concepts of “tellability” and “frame”, I examine how individuals (most of them children of German fathers and Finnish mothers) who were interned as minors and young people in Finland in 1944–1946 describe silence and the rupture of silence. In order to understand the interaction and dynamics between individuals’ remembering and public memory, I analyze oral history interviews of ex-internees in relation to public discussion. I argue that bringing together viewpoints of narrative analysis, oral history research and memory studies facilitates understanding of the link between the individual, private and public dimensions of memory construction. Furthermore, I suggest that the analytical concepts of tellability and frame are highly useful in understanding why some experiences and events of the past are narrated and remembered while others are forgotten or silenced.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • History of the internment
  • Silence, tellability and frames
  • Explaining the silence
  • Rupturing of the silence
  • Conclusions
  • Research materials
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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