Expellees compulsively sought painful information about the transformed home

Evidence

If the Heimat transformed was so painful and the Heimat of memory so consoling, why did expellees not simply pretend that the Heimat still looked as they imagined it in their memories? Why could they not resist exposing themselves to disturbing imagery from the Heimat transformed ? Above all, they were compelled by their strong curiosity to learn more: was the old homestead still standing; did the town hall really burn down; had the cherished neighborhood decayed into oblivion? — Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East, 183

Categorization

• QUESTION: The mechanism driving the compulsive curiosity itself is left open — worth chasing for why people expose themselves to identity-threatening information.
• XREF: connects to: News from the destroyed Heimat began expellees’ coping with loss — Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration…, 709; Expellees’ curiosity about changed homelands clashed with and deepened their memory-based grief. — Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East: Forced Migration…, 183

Broader Connections

• News from the destroyed Heimat began expellees’ coping with loss #corroborates (0.85) — Andrew Demshuk, The Lost German East, 709