The Warsaw Ghetto Wall: Shaping post-war counter-memory in 1990s Poland Part 1 Dissertation 2025 Marcelina Janas Mackintosh School of Architecture | UK My dissertation, 'The Warsaw Ghetto Wall: Shaping post-war counter-memory in the 1990s', re-examines the enduring fragments of the Warsaw Ghetto Wall as powerful, unintentional counter- monuments. It challenges conventional commemorative practices by arguing that these remnants, never intended for remembrance, uniquely mediate the complex trauma of the Holocaust within post-war Poland.The project examines how the Wall's materiality and its embeddedness within Muranów's place memory challenge simplified historical narratives, particularly in the socio-political context of 1990s Poland. By applying Michel Foucault's concept of heterotopia, the thesis reveals how the Wall continues to function as a "counter-site". It juxtaposes past horrors with the present, fostering critical, personalized engagement rather than didactic interpretation.The outcome is a nuanced understanding of how seemingly unremarkable urban forms can profoundly shape collective memory. The research examines how the unintentional persistence of the Ghetto Wall as a counter-monument mediates collective trauma, preserves its memory, and defines national identity through seemingly unremarkable urban form.Ultimately, the study demonstrates how unintentional memory sites shape urban memory by challenging traditional monumental commemoration. This study provides a significant contribution to architectural history, memory studies, and urban theory. Tutor(s) Florian Urban