Animation is a medium that is increasingly being used in the documentary genre for its symbolic and metaphoric functions; the reenactment of events for which live action footage is missing or non-existent, the recreation of phenomena not accessible to normal human vision (such as those that were pre-photographic or are cosmically distant or microscopic), as well as the portrayal of subjective psychological states. This paper proposes that in addition to these established functions of animation in a non-fiction context, we should also consider its potential as a form of public history, giving voice to individual perspectives in a novel and  symbolically-rich medium. This concept is explored through the case study of Polonia, a practice-based PhD research project that entailed the use of animation and archival material to tell the story of Polish refugees who fled their homeland from political persecution in the early 1980s, ultimately arriving in South Africa. The visual and conceptual design processes of the film's environments and protagonists are unpacked and discussed, with consideration given to various ‘self-reflexive’ strategies that highlight the subjectivity of individual historical accounts and animation’s constructedness. The paper concludes that this type of considered and research-based approach to animation' visual design in a documentary context advances it beyond just being a purely functional, visually attractive but arbitrary vehicle for motion and narrative, to become a means for the revification of historical and cultural narrative – both in educational contexts and the broader public sphere – through a meaningful and layered relationship between content and form.