“Half my life was gone”: Pandemic related border closure and identity in the Polish-German borderscape

On March 15th 2020 the border between Poland and Germany was closed. Concrete blocks were placed on small roads across the ‘green border’, soldiers stationed at every border crossing with loaded guns, and for the first time since 1989 it wasn’t only hard to cross the border, it was impossible. This was in stark contrast to the 13 years of close to complete openness of the border, with Poland and Germany both in the Schengen space. A borderscape in which the physical manifestation of the border had all but disappeared was suddenly divided again by a hard border. The lives of those individuals who’s daily routine had been transnational, whose lives were centered in the border, had from one day to the other transformed and cast back to the periphery. In my PhD study I explore the impact of the pandemic related border closures on the identity of borderscape inhabitants at the Polish-German border. Through a qualitative approach, I explore in what ways these experiences have shaped and changed the internalized network of identity anchors among a diverse range of borderscape inhabitants. - Have local, regional, national or European identifications changed? Or were these just a few hard months with no sustainable impact? - Have political or personal prioritizations shifted? The border closures were a tragedy for many persons whose lives were significantly disrupted through them. Scientifically, however, they provide a quasi-experimental setting, that opens up avenues towards understanding how external disruptions can and do have an influence on identity. During my presentation, I will present preliminary empirical results of the study and open methodological aspects and interpretations up for discussion.