Is the Sudetenland merely a patchwork of fragmented, melancholic histories? Inspired by the Sudetenlove comic exhibition in Olomouc, Magdalena Bubík revisits this question with a fresh perspective. In her blog post, she argues that these stories are not entirely lost, they persist through memories embedded in objects and buildings. It’s a piece that invites readers to see continuity where fragmentation is often assumed.
Link to the blog post you can find here.
On April 12, the Wałcz Land Museum hosted an event “How much of ‘centralacy’ is in us?”, bringing attention to a relatively overlooked dimension of the region’s postwar past, namely, the experiences of settlers from central Poland, the “centralacy.” As our PI, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, was involved in the creation of the Museum’s new permanent exhibition, she led a tour through it, focusing on the life trajectories of the “centralacy,” using examples from her fieldwork and archival search queries.
Since the exhibition begins with a shared introduction, explaining the propaganda surrounding the expulsion and resettlement, as well as the establishment of the Polish administration in the “Recovered Territories,” and is then divided according to different groups of settlers, Karolina chose to follow this structure to highlight the specificity of resettlement among those from central Poland. She then elaborated on the section of the exhibition devoted specifically to this group, explaining what was understood as “Centrala” and where these people actually came from.
We are happy that the collaboration with the Museum is ongoing, and that some of the research findings, despite not being directly connected to our projects, were embodied as part of a museum exhibition.
A few days ago, our researcher, Michal Korhel, published a commentary in the Slovak newspaper Denník N titled “Slovakia also has its Sudetenland.” In the article, Michal explains that although Slovakia did not have “Sudetenland” in the same historical sense as Czechia, there are regions that can be compared to it in a metaphorical way.
In Czechia, the Sudetenland is not only a geographical area, but also a symbol of historical trauma connected to the German minority, World War II, and the post-war expulsion of people. Today, the term is also used for peripheral and economically weaker regions.
In Slovakia, there was also a significant German minority, but compared to the German population in Czechia, it was less politically and territorially unified. Still, after 1945, expulsions and a break in historical continuity happened here as well, but this topic has received less attention in Slovak society.
Michal also points out that some Slovak regions, such as Gemer and Novohrad, show similar signs of being peripheral—like economic decline, people moving away, and distance from decision-making centers. At the same time, he criticizes simple stereotypes that describe these areas as having no identity, and he stresses that new forms of local life and connection to place are developing there.
The term “Slovak Sudetenland” is therefore used as a metaphor to highlight neglected historical memory, regional inequalities, and the way central areas view the periphery.
During our regular team seminar in March, we watched and discussed the 1961 film Złoto, directed by Wojciech Jerzy Has. We selected this film because it addresses multiple themes that align with our own research interests. The narrative follows a young man, portrayed by Władysław Kowalski, who seeks happiness and a sense of refuge in post-war Bogatynia. Located in the southwestern corner of Poland, near the German and Czech borders, Bogatynia is a community shaped by the displacement of the German population and its coal-mining history. Consequently, the film serves as a portrait of the emerging postwar society and socialist industrialization.
Although Złoto is not considered Has’s most acclaimed work, we found it valuable to analyze through a hauntological perspective. The film repeatedly emphasizes that all characters are newcomers to a place full of distinct German materiality, yet the reasons for this newness remain unaddressed. The protagonist, along with other characters, searches for gold and treasure, which symbolize both material aspirations and the longing for a new life that people were dreaming of in post-war Poland.
Still from the film Złoto. The landscape of the open coal mine is a strong visual element of the film.
Still from the film Złoto. The film was shot in Bogatynia, where at the beginning of the 1960s its German history was still visible.
At the end of March, a thematic evening dedicated to the European Capital of Culture Trenčín 2026 project took place at the premises of the Embassy of the Slovak Republic in Berlin. The event, organized by the Slovak Institute in Berlin in cooperation with the Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa, offered a diverse program focused on history, cultural memory, and contemporary interpretations of the city and its region.
The evening program was divided into several thematic blocks. Particular attention was given to Jewish heritage, with the history of the Trenčín synagogue presented within the broader context of the history of the Jewish community in Slovakia. A strong personal dimension was added by Eva Umlauf, who shared her memories of growing up in Trenčín and her experience as a Holocaust survivor. The literary segment introduced contemporary works connected to the city, while the musical accompaniment enhanced the atmosphere of the event and underscored its multicultural character.
The historical segment of the evening then focused on Slovak–German cultural heritage in the region. In this context, our researcher Michal Korhel presented the issue of German settlement in the so-called Hauerland region, using the town of Handlová and its surroundings as a case study. The presentation was based on his field work and explored the traces of German heritage in the region, as well as contemporary forms of remembrance and reinterpretation of the German presence. In his contribution, Michal highlighted the ambivalent nature of this heritage, which oscillates between historical continuity and discontinuity shaped by post-war developments. In conclusion, he emphasized that German heritage should not be seen solely as a closed chapter of the past, but as a dynamic element of the present.
Following the presentation, Michal engaged in a discussion with Brunhilde Reitmeier-Zwick, Federal Chairwoman of the Carpathian German Association in Germany. Together, they addressed broader questions of cultural heritage preservation, identity, and the intergenerational transmission of memory within the context of the Carpathian German community. The discussion highlighted the importance of dialogue between historical research and the perspectives of those who actively carry this tradition forward.
In her latest blog post, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska reflects on how seemingly distant regions can reveal strikingly familiar historical patterns. Using Nice as a case study, she explores how shifting borders, layered identities, and post-displacement experiences, often associated with Central and Eastern Europe, also shape parts of Western Europe.
Blending travel reflection with scholarly insight, the post invites readers to reconsider what we think of as “unique” in European history and to look beyond regional frameworks.
Link to the blog post you can find here.
The March issue of the Czech cultural magazine A2 focuses on the Sudety region and features an interview with our researcher, Karina Hoření. In the interview, Karina shared insights from our Spectral Recycling project and spoke with journalist Alžběta Medková about common stereotypes surrounding the Czech borderlands. They discussed the widespread belief that people in the borderlands are ‘without roots.’ Karina explained that this view assumes the region has not changed since 1945 and that even the third generation of “new” residents cannot form a connection to the place where they grew up. She also noted that this idea relies on an idealized image of other Czech regions and their communities. To show how borderland residents build strong ties to their homes, she shared quotes from her interviews where people described deep emotional, physical, and spatial connections to the area.
Link to the interview you can find here.
In mid-March, our team met for a seminar dedicated to the book The Implicated Subject: Beyond Victims and Perpetrators by Michael Rothberg, a scholar of American literature and memory studies.
During the meeting, we reflected on how the concept of implicated subjects might be applied to the post-displacement areas that our team studies. Rothberg proposes a perspective that goes beyond the traditional division between perpetrators and victims, pointing to a space between them — a sphere of implication. In this view, individuals and groups may be connected to injustices or forms of violence in different ways, even if they were not their direct perpetrators. At times, such implication may also bring certain benefits. At the same time, Rothberg emphasizes that recognizing one’s own implication can become a starting point for transformation — encouraging reflection on responsibility and solidarity that goes beyond a simple distinction between the guilty and the innocent. In his book, Rothberg develops this theory through analyses of examples from film and other fields of art.
During our seminar, we attempted to bring these reflections into the context of research on post-displacement regions, which our team investigates. Together, we considered what forms of “implication” can be observed in the histories and experiences of people living in these areas and how such a perspective might help us better understand the complex relationships between past and present, as well as the role of material culture that is the central focus of our project.
Our researcher Karina Hoření was invited by the Písek Municipal Library to share her thoughts on the 2021 documentary “Jak jsem se stala partyzánkou” (“How I Became a Partisan”). The film, made by Vera Lacková, tells the story of her great-grandfather, Ján Lacko, who joined the antifascist resistance during the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. It explores not only his experiences during the war, but also how his story is remembered by the women in her Romani family, as well as the ongoing presence of anti-Romani prejudice in Slovakia today. Karina contributed insights from her own field research in central Slovakia, the same area where Vera’s family once lived. In this region, Romani, German, and Slovak partisans, along with members of the pro-Nazi home guards, all operated in ethnically mixed villages, and the memory of these events still shapes personal relations of people nowadays.
In late winter, our team met for a regular seminar to explore a new genre. For the first time, we listened to an audio documentary. The documentary Kořeny se hledají v zemi (“Roots Are Found in the Ground”) follows artist Lucie Králíková as she and her colleagues invite participants of one of her projects to Northwestern Bohemia. Together, they explore the region’s former German heritage, visible in abandoned villages and in the remaining fruit trees that recall the vibrant life that existed before the Second World War.
While listening to the documentary, which focuses on memory work typical of the Czech borderlands, we discussed the strong visual elements and stereotypes associated with the region. We also considered how perceptions of post-displacement areas differ in Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland.
If you would like to experience the atmosphere of a post-displacement fruit feast, you can listen to the documentary here.