Affect and trauma and the life cycle of documentation

The main aims of this article are to explore the concept of the affective turn in the Polish archival landscape – with particular emphasis on trauma – and to raise awareness of the potential risks involved. The article traces the life cycle of documentation – from the moment of creation, through collection, storage, processing and access in archives. This directly translates into a presentation of the themes of affect and trauma within the archival sphere from three perspectives: the creators of the documentation, archivists, and users. Raising awareness of this issue and identifying potential areas for intervention and support for those affected by trauma appears to be an extremely important task.