What paradigms shape how we think about Poland’s post-displacement regions? Has the meaning of “formerly German” changed over the past 80 years, as these regions have become part of Poland and successive generations of settlers have created new meanings along the way? To explore these questions, we gathered at the welcoming space of Pracownia Etnograficzna on Warecka Street in Warsaw on the evening of 21 September 2026.

The discussion was moderated by anthropologist Helena Patzer, who is currently conducting research in the Krajna region, between Poland’s “Recovered Territories” and its “Elder Lands”. The three researchers who took part in it, represented the disciplines of sociology, history, and anthropology. Małgorzata Łukianow, a sociologist and author of the recently published book “Memory in Postmigration Communities: Fields of Memory”, reflected on her research in the Powiśle and Łużyce regions. Małgorzata Bukiel, responsible for the recent sociological survey report “There are no Recovered Territories anymore” shared her insights coming from the report as well as her research in the Lubusz Land region. Last but not least was our own Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska.

Małgorzata Łukianow opened the discussion by explaining that the title of the debate, “The End of Former Germanness”, was not an attempt to dismiss previous research, but rather a starting point for asking what we still do not fully understand and which concepts deserve a closer look. Karolina added examples from our team’s research, comparing the situation in Poland with that in Czechia. Małgorzata Bukiel presented the findings of her team’s sociological survey, emphasizing that she, too, sees them as a starting point for further discussion. All three researchers agreed that we still lack adequate language to express the experience of post-displacement.

The debate was streamed online, but above all, it brought together a substantial audience. Many people had to stand once Pracownia ran out of chairs. During the discussion that followed, which lasted over an hour, participants raised questions about the moral dimensions of “formerly German” heritage, the difference between “autochthonous” and “formerly German”, and how German scholars are responding to the ongoing debate on these issues in Poland.

We were happy to co-organize this event and look forward to more collaborations like this one!

In mid-October, Karina Hoření presented her work at the 60th Annual Meeting of the Oral History Association in Portland, Oregon. This year’s conference theme, “Landscapes of Memory,” explored how people shape and develop relationships with the land, both real and imagined.

Karina’s presentation examined how the first generation of post-war newcomers to the Czech borderlands learned to navigate a region that was still unfamiliar to them, and how they interpreted its landscape through material traces left by the previous German-speaking population.

The international conference provided an opportunity to share our research and engage in dialogue with scholars working on case studies from different geographical contexts. Karina’s panel brought together researchers working with material from Palestine, Ghana, and the United States. Despite their different geographical contexts, their contributions were connected by shared questions of belonging and place-making.

Human remains discovered some time ago in the Czech town of Postoloprty have once again raised the question of postwar violence against the civilian German-speaking population. They also remind us how difficult it can be to talk about a past that does not fit neatly into the usual division between victims and perpetrators.

In a new article for Denník N, our researcher Michal uses the example of Postoloprty to look at how Czech society deals with this uncomfortable past. He compares the Czech experience with the way violence against German civilians during the Slovak National Uprising is remembered in Slovakia.

Why do Sklené, Banská Štiavnica, and Magurka remain at the margins of the story of the Slovak National Uprising? And what happens when we do not want to talk about the uncomfortable chapters of our own past?

Link to the article you can find here.

📅 Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 6:00 pm
📍 Pracownia Duży Pokój, ul. Warecka 4/6, Warsaw (entrance from Kubusia Puchatka Street)

Why in 2026 did a municipality in Western Pomerania use a mug featuring a Nazi to promote itself? How should we understand the identities of Wrocław, Szczecin and Zielona Góra: as formerly German or Polish? Can a granary serve as a museum, and who decides how such places and their histories are presented?

Many of the terms we use to describe our history are still preceded by the phrase “so-called”, as in the case of the “Recovered Territories”. This linguistic distance says much about our relationship with the past. Despite more than eighty years of research into the displacement of German populations and the resettlement of territories incorporated into Poland after the Second World War, the material and cultural legacies of the “formerly German” have only relatively recently entered mainstream Polish popular culture.

This discussion examines how understandings of the “Recovered Territories” are changing and being debated today. How do we use the term “formerly German” today, and how does it shape not only our understanding of the past but also the places we live in and our everyday experiences? Which stories about these territories do we tell, which remain untold, and which receive the most attention? We will also consider how a post-war project of social engineering has evolved in ways that its creators could not have anticipated.

The discussion will feature dr Małgorzata Bukiel (Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań), dr Małgorzata Łukianow (Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw) and our own Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska. It will be moderated by dr Helena Patzer (Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw).

The event is co-organised by Stowarzyszenie „Pracownia Etnograficzna”, Pracownia Duży Pokój, the European Union (ERC, Spectral Recycling, 101041946), Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences, Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw, Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań, Centre for Research on Social Memory, and Polish Memory Studies Group.