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Do you feel fully connected to your place of birth or the place where you currently live? What steals away your sense of identity? These were among the key questions discussed during the debate “Świnoujście, Szczecin, Wałcz – The Identity of a Place” held at Radio Szczecin on February 20, 2025.

Participants, including our PI, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, discussed the process of acquiring identity as a collective and personal experience, with a focus on when, and if, today’s residents of post-displacement localities in Pomerania truly felt like they belonged there.

Marek Łuczak, a police commissioner and president of the Pomeranian Historical Society, argued that identity is defined by what we build through our actions. For him, being a city dweller is about contributing to the city’s growth, rather than mere symbols. Katarzyna Rembacka, a historian and educator, observed that the region suffers from a lack of local historical narratives. Kinga Rabińska, a cultural animator, highlighted that identity, by definition, should be constant, but in Szczecin, for example, it is ever-changing, influenced by both global conditions and the city’s dynamic history. Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska described identity as a story, noting that Pomerania’s residents have difficulty narrating it. According to her, the process of identity formation faces several obstacles, particularly with the question of place and time. Is 1989 a turning point in the region’s identity? Or perhaps 2004, when Poland joined the European Union? Marek Stelar, a crime novelist, emphasized that identity is shaped through personal experiences and noted that the process of the city’s identity formation is ongoing. Martin Hanf, a German historian and podcaster, compared how people in Poland and Germany were (or were not) discussing topics related to World War II, which was crucial for the development of regional identities in Pomerania.

If you’re interested in learning more, you can listen to the entire conversation on YouTube channel of Radio Szczecin.

In an interview with Gazeta.pl, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska and Lidia Raś discuss issues related to the displacement of German and German-speaking populations from Czechoslovakia after World War II. They cover the so-called “wild expulsions” that occurred before the Potsdam Agreement, as well as the later, more organized phases of forced displacement. Our PI attempts to explain the reasons for these displacements, highlighting how public opinion became increasingly radicalized and how social and political attitudes evolved, especially in the context of the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948.Karolina also discusses the historical context of Czech-German relations, dating back to the 19th century when there was a significant German presence in the Czech lands. She briefly mentions the similarities between the forced displacements in Poland and Czechoslovakia, which are also studied in our project. She points out that the Polish and Czechoslovak governments exchanged experiences at official platforms regarding the organization of both the expulsions and the resettlements.

For young researchers, promoting their work and building a personal brand is essential for establishing themselves in the scientific community. Our manager, Angelika Zanki, recently addressed first-year doctoral students at the Anthropos Doctoral School (Polish Academy of Sciences), providing guidance on how to effectively promote their activities. The internet has become the primary platform for such endeavors, offering a wide range of opportunities for visibility and networking. Emphasizing the importance of presenting research findings, our manager also shared insights on what not to do when promoting oneself professionally.
In this discussion, the Spectral Recycling grant was highlighted as a key example of successful promotion within the scientific community.

Many thanks to the meeting participants for their activity and presenting great ideas for promoting their activities.

Thanks to the Department of East European History’s kind invitation our researcher, Michal Korhel, presented the results of his research within the Munich colloquium of East European History. Based on the example of two cemeteries – one in a Polish and one in a Slovak town – he showed the similarities as well as the differences in dealing with their German past. The following discussion moved from the cemeteries to other German ghosts haunting the East Central Europe. In this way Michal could present the whole variety of his findings from his fieldwork in Poland and Slovakia.

While in Munich, Michal also visited the Sudeten German Museum and took a guided tour through its permanent exhibition about the cultural history of Germans in Bohemian lands. Except for his general interest in the objects presented in the exhibition and their stories, Michal was particularly curious about the depiction of the forced displacement of the Sudeten Germans. Moreover, as one of the first ones, Michal had the opportunity to take part in the newly introduced format on memory and homeland in the aftermath of the guided tour, where the visitors were given the space to share their stories.

Our team meets regularly every two weeks to discuss our fieldwork, scholarly texts, or literature. Sometimes, we watch a film together to analyze how the representation of expulsion and resettlement is depicted in Czech, Slovak, or Polish cinema and what conclusions we can derive from it for our work as cultural studies scholars.

This time, we met to discuss Adelheid, a 1969 film made by one of the Czech cinema classics, František Vláčil, based on the 1967 novel by Vladimír Körner. During our discussion, we focused primarily on how materiality was presented and to what extent it followed the stereotypical view of the Borderlands as a land in decay. We also tackled issues such as the differences between the book and the adaptation, Czechs as heroes, and how the presence of Germans was portrayed.

Once again, film proved to be an inspiring basis for discussion, which may be useful for anthropological research and broaden our horizons.

“Wandervogel” is a thought-provoking theater play directed by Jan Mocek, currently being staged at the Alfred ve dvoře theater in Prague. Five actors, one stage, and one almost forgotten story of Heinz Rutha, a Czech German and nationalist leader from Northern Bohemia who committed suicide after being accused of homosexuality. This post is not a classic theatrical review. Instead, Karolina wonders what we can learn from the play about the complexities of nationalism, identity, and the impact of suppressed desires, shedding light on a lesser-known aspect of history.

Link to the blog post by Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska you can find here.

In January Magdalena had the opportunity to share her research with the students of history at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Her class was titled “Legacy of the (Post)Displacement Regions: Material Culture and the Redefinition of Space”. The session offered an introduction to the key concepts of our project, including an exploration of hauntology — a theoretical approach our team employs to investigate post-displacement regions and their transformations.  

Drawing from her research, Magdalena illustrated the concepts of recycling and redefinition, focusing particularly on sacred spaces in Piła and Liberec. Her presentation highlighted how these processes shape the understanding of post-displacement landscapes. The class also featured interactive elements: analyzing photographs and materials from research sites and fostering discussion and critical engagement with real-world case studies. This was followed by a collective discussion, where students explored additional examples of post-displacement characteristics, broadening their perspectives on the topic.  

The class provided students with an unique opportunity to delve into the complexities of displacement, memory, and material culture, equipping them with tools to understand better the lasting impacts of historical processes on contemporary spaces.

This enriching session was organized in collaboration with Dr. Kamil Ruszała from the Institute of History, Jagiellonian University, whose involvement added an invaluable interdisciplinary dimension to the class.

We are proud and happy to announce that the habilitation colloquium of our PI, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, took place on October 23, 2024. She successfully submitted and defended  a series of articles titled: “Recycling of memory. The role of “formerly German” materiality in resettlement cultures in post-displacement regions. An anthropological case study.“

The habilitation committee assessed the application positively  and the  degree of “doktor habilitowana” (i.e. tenured scholar) was granted by the resolution of the Academic Council of the Institute of Slavic Studies, PAS, on November 25, 2024.

Congratulations and we wish Karolina further success!

The Spectral Recycling Team kicked off our internal seminars for the new year on January 15, 2025, with a reading session featuring Christiane Hoffmann’s book, “Alles, was wir nicht erinnern: Zu Fuß auf dem Fluchtweg meines Vaters” (2022). The Polish edition, “Czego nie pamiętamy. Pieszo śladami ucieczki ojca” translated by Ewa Czerwiakowska, was published by Ośrodek Karta last year.

This read is among the latest accounts of the experiences of the German expellees and their children. After her father’s death, Hoffmann decided to walk the route her family took to escape the Red Army in the winter of 1945. Starting from their village of Rosenthal (now Różyna) in Lower Silesia, she followed the footsteps of the expellees to Křižovatka in today’s Czech Republic, covering nearly 550 kilometers westward. Through this journey, she sought to explore the impact of history on her family’s life and other expelled Germans. She also addressed issues of German memory, guilt, and responsibility.

Our team delved into the topic of inherited traumas and the portrayal of post-displacement regions, focusing on Poland and Czechia. We pondered how Hoffmann’s journey compared to our own fieldwork experiences. The discussion proved to be both insightful and enriching.

Since our whole team participated in the conference “Memory and Populism from Below”, we used this opportunity to meet for the last time in 2024 in December, in Prague.

 Despite the busy conference schedule, we also managed to have some project meetings. We took time to look back at what we achieved in 2024 and made plans for 2025.  

In 2024, each of us spent several weeks doing field research. As a team, we published six articles in academic journals. At a meeting in Greifswald in early autumn we prepared the basis for our future book. 

In 2025, we will gradually complete our field research, and concentrate on working on the book. In addition to the meeting devoted to planning, we also had a walking seminar in Prague’s Stromovka Park where we discussed broader topics connected to our research. The foggy December weather inspired us to think about hauntology and take some stylish photos as well.