Angelika Zanki

This semester, our team launched a thought-provoking cycle of internal seminars dedicated to exploring the German culture of remembrance, with a special focus on the representation of expulsion and resettlement in post-war artworks and scholarship, rooted in Germany.

We began in January with a deep dive into “Alles, was wir nicht erinnern”, a recent bestseller by Christiane Hoffmann. The book, a personal account of retracing her father’s flight route from Silesia, offered a poignant entry point into the silences and tensions surrounding collective memory in Germany today. You can find some of our reflections on it here.

From there, we moved into more academic territory, discussing two seminal articles by Robert G. Moeller, who has written extensively on the divided memory cultures of East and West Germany. While his arguments are rich and well-grounded, we approached them from a hauntological perspective, probing what remains unsaid or spectral in his narrative. This led us to watch the 1951 West German film Grün ist die Heide (The Heath Is Green), which Moeller names as one of the era’s most popular. The screening sparked a dynamic discussion on how the theme of expulsion in the film is both present and repressed—simultaneously visible and veiled—echoing the ghostly presences all of us engage with during our fieldwork.

To conclude this seminar series, we’ll turn to a text by Bill Niven, focusing exclusively on the GDR’s culture of remembrance. This will round off our exploration of how memory diverged across Germany’s post-war landscapes.

We’ll return after the summer—reenergized by fieldwork, conferences, and writing—with a new series of seminars. Until then, we continue to reflect on what is remembered, what is forgotten, and what lingers in between.

The first days of May brought pleasant, sunny weather. Our researcher, Michal Korhel, took advantage of this during his field research in Handlová, setting out to explore traces of the former German inhabitants in the surrounding cultural landscape. He was accompanied on his hikes by a local from a mixed family – his mother was from a German family in Handlová, while his father arrived in the town as a settler from Hungary. Thanks to this guide, Michal gained valuable insights not only into the local forests but also into the lifestyle and farming practices of the German population, as well as the changes that occurred in the region after World War II.

The first day began beneath the hills of Biela skala and Veľký Gríč, which held symbolic value for the German population. Much of the hillsides once served as cattle pastures before the war. This is evidenced by the remains of so-called summer stables and various fruit trees – cherries, apples, and pears – now found on the forest edge or even deep within the woods. These trees were originally planted to deter forest animals from entering garden plots. Today, their blossoms and fruit are living reminders of the German population of Handlová, who planted them decades ago before being forcibly displaced after the war. In many parts of the surrounding countryside, piles of stones can still be found – once the boundaries of individual land plots. These properties were later nationalized under the so-called Beneš decrees. However, since the Czechoslovak state and the new settlers were either unable or unwilling to use the land in the same way as the previous inhabitants, much of it was reforested. Over time, the forest has gradually covered decades, even centuries, of the original population’s labor.

Some of this history is now being rediscovered by local enthusiasts, including Michal’s guide. One example is the source of the Handlovka River, which flows through the town of Handlová. Its location was only recently reidentified. Traces such as a dominant tree and remnants of surrounding walls suggest that the German population was well aware of the spring, possibly using it as a destination for short trips. Once it is cleaned, it is expected to serve a similar recreational purpose once again.

On the second day, Michal and his guide followed in the footsteps of German miners who once commuted to the Handlová mines from nearby Jánová Lehota (known in German as Drexlerhau). Along the route, the miners reportedly paused to pray at a cross, which still stands today. During the walk, Michal again came across the remains of farm buildings and various fruit trees. A nearby lake, artificially created by Germans, was repurposed after the war as a popular leisure destination for the new settlers. As Michal’s guide recalled, children used to build wooden rafts and reenact naval battles on the lake. In May, young couples would sit under a blossoming cherry tree on the shore. Today, the lake appears neglected, and no one would consider swimming in its waters.

Michal concluded his journey in Jánová Lehota. Like Handlová, it features stone houses built by the local German population before World War II. However, Jánová Lehota has preserved more visible evidence of its German past. Perhaps the most prominent is the monument to local inhabitants who died in World War I, located directly opposite the church.

Walking through the landscape around Handlová reveals many traces of the life once led by the original German inhabitants. However, many of these are unnoticed by the average visitor or lie beyond marked trails. That’s why Michal is especially grateful to his guide, whose familiarity with the local landscape and personal stories brought new meaning to the sites they encountered. Through this narrative lens, the remnants were contextualized within both the German heritage and the newer Slovak presence. In this way, walking itself becomes a vital research method.

As winter turned to spring, much of our energy was devoted to intensive fieldwork—a time of travel, observation, conversation, and discovery. To regroup and reflect, we held an internal seminar on April 23rd, where we shared our recent experiences and insights from the field.

Michal presented his journeys to Czechia and Slovakia, where he explored themes relevant to his broader research on Polish-Slovak memory landscapes. In Slovakia, he spent several weeks tracing traces of a variety of German heritage, delving into local histories in Hauerland and their ongoing presence in cultural narratives. You can read more about his travels here and here.

Magdalena continued her field research in Piła, Poland, focusing on former Protestant objects and their transformation—especially during the emotionally charged weeks of Lent. Her work uncovered other dimensions of how these spaces are recycled, reinterpreted, or quietly linger in the background of the contemporary religious life of Protestant and Catholic communities. She summed it up in one of the posts.

Meanwhile, Karolina returned to Wałcz County, where she collaborated with the Wałcz Land Museum on a new permanent exhibition, while also conducting interviews to deepen our understanding of regional heritage and its living memory. She and Magdalena were even able to meet in person—a rare and welcome moment of shared fieldwork.

We also heard from Karin, who represented our team at the REECAS conference in Seattle. Her reflections sparked discussion on how to communicate our Central European-focused work to broader international audiences, and how the themes of memory, displacement, and heritage resonate across regions.

This energizing session reminded us how interconnected our research truly is, even as we work in different places and on diverse topics. Fieldwork takes us out into the world—but seminars like this bring us back together. And yes—it’s good to talk!

At the beginning of April, our team member, Karina Hoření, had a chance to present her research findings in Seattle. The annual Northwest Regional Conference for Russian, East European and Central Asian Studies (REECAS) at Washington University brings together West Coast and European scholars. Karina presented her case study of Gustav and Adolf – two men of German nationality who tried to reclaim their confiscated property. Karina uses their cases to illustrate the differences between Czech and Slovak post-displacement regions.  It is always a challenge to present our project outside of Central Europe, and it is always valuable to get feedback and find common topics with scholars from different regions.

At the end of April, Magdalena had the opportunity to present her research to students at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague. During a lecture titled “Memory of things. Material Culture displaced in the borderlands”, she introduced the aims of her PhD project and shared insights into her work on the remnants of German Protestant churches in post-displacement areas as part of the Spectral Recycling grant.
Using selected case studies and visual materials–including photographs and texts from her fieldwork–Magdalena illustrated how memory and material heritage intersect in spaces transformed by resettlement. The lecture concluded with an engaging discussion, where students offered thoughtful reflections and questions on the topic.
The event was made possible thanks to the generous support of Tomáš Pavlíček, Ph.D, lecturer at Charles University and researcher at the Masaryk Institute and Archives of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Although the Hauerland region was historically dominated by a German population, it also included predominantly Slovak villages. As a result, German settlement in the area can be divided into several distinct zones. Our researcher, Michal Korhel, has previously conducted fieldwork in the vicinity of Handlová. However, he recently visited Nitrianske Pravno and its surrounding villages, where he encountered a reality unfamiliar from his earlier research: the visible presence of German heritage in public spaces.

During World War II, this area was known for strong anti-fascist resistance, led by local Germans with communist sympathies – particularly from the village of Malinová ­– who fought in the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) and afterwards as partisans. Their legacy is honored today in Malinová with a monument in the village center. Nearby, there is also a “partisan” bunker, which was likely never used by partisans but instead served as a shelter for the local civilian population. Due to its proximity to the village, it became a memorial site after the war. Twice a year, local residents gather there to commemorate the resistance to fascism.

A monument to the SNP also stands prominently in the center of Nitrianske Pravno. However, it shares space – and perhaps symbolic significance – with a monument dedicated to local inhabitants who died in the First World War, bearing exclusively German inscriptions. Just behind it is a museum of local German culture. German inscriptions can also be found in churches, both in Nitrianske Pravno and in neighboring villages such as Malinová and Tužina. Michal also visited local cemeteries, where he found many German tombstones and monuments commemorating the region’s German population.

The widespread remnants of German heritage in Nitrianske Pravno and its surroundings also evoke memories of the post-war period, when property was confiscated from local Germans and redistributed to Slovaks – some from nearby villages, others from Hungary, Poland, Romania, or Subcarpathian Ruthenia. In nearly every interview Michal conducted during his visit, locals expressed that the post-war property settlement has not been forgotten and continues to influence relations among the area’s inhabitants.

There’s a popular—though misleading—opinion circulating among some Poles: that Czechs are essentially “little Germans” and that the Czech Republic as an independent state has never truly existed. While it may sound fringe, it’s not as rare belief as one might hope.

In Episode 69 of the Czechostacja podcast Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska together with Jakub Medek explore the long and complex relationship between the Czech lands and their neighbors over the span of more than a thousand years.

This is not a conversation full of easy answers. Even the modern concept of what it means to be “German” doesn’t fit neatly into Czech history. Historical political entities and modern national analogies simply don’t hold up under scrutiny. The topic is tangled, layered, and fascinating because of it.

Discussion spans the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs, and why Jan Žižka was seen as a hero by 19th-century Germans. If you’re looking for a story that challenges national myths and digs deep into Central European history, this episode is for you.

Link to the podcast you can find here.

This spring, Magdalena Bubík continued her field research in the city of Piła, uncovering new layers of local memory and heritage. In March and April, she conducted a series of in-depth interviews and site visits, leading to several fascinating findings.

One particularly compelling story she encountered was that of a baptismal bowl from the formerly Protestant church. During one of her conversations with Piła inhabitants Magdalena was able to view it: a burnished brass baptismal bowl from one of Piła’s former Protestant churches. No one knows exactly which church this bowl came from, and perhaps it is Magdalena who will be able to find out?

As part of her broader research, Magdalena explored various parts of the city—including the Stanisław Staszic Municipal Park in Piła, where his monument is. Born in Piła and baptized there in 1755, Staszic was a priest, Enlightenment thinker, and important figure in Polish intellectual history. After 1945, he became one of the symbols frequently evoked as proof of “Polish character” of the city.

Despite having gathered a wealth of material, Magdalena’s research continues. With many questions still open, she looks forward to her next trips and further opportunities to deepen our understanding of Piła’s layered past.

Is there anything more contrasting than Arizona and the Sudetenland? In this blog post, Karina Hoření highlights the surprising parallels between these two regions. She begins with the concept of “borderlands,” a term that applies to both areas, and reveals that their similarities go beyond language. By applying the idea of settler colonialism, she demonstrates how both regions operated under its principles, including the displacement of native populations, the notion of the “Wild West,” utopian ideals, control, renaming, and forgetting.

Link to the blog post you can find here.