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SpectralRecycling Team in cooperation with the Scientific Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Vienna invites you to 2 day event: Exploring post-displacement regions in Central Europe and beyond.

On May 22, 2 pm, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, Karina Hoření, Michal Korhel and Magdalena Bubík will present their preliminary findings and discuss them with Claudia Kraft and Kerstin von Lingen, Professors for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. 

On May 23, from 10 am, we would like you to join our interactive workshop, where you can learn more about our project. Based on pre-circulated readings we aim to discuss with you the hauntological approach in research on forced migrations and emerging of new cultures in post-displacement regions in East Central Europe and beyond.

To join us PLEASE FILL IN THE REGISTRATION FORM under this link.

From April 9 to 10 a conference under the title “Übersehen, vergessen, stillgestellt? Zur Latenz kulturellen Erbes” took place at the Leibniz-Institut für Geschichte und Kultur des östlichen Europa (GWZO) in Leipzig (Germany). Its aim was mainly to discuss the various cases of „silent“, hidden and overlooked cultural heritage and its status between the presence and absence. Furthermore, the participants should have reflect upon the concept of latency in the context of cultural heritage on theoretical level.

Our researcher, Michal Korhel, took part in the conference with his presentation „Wiederbelebung deutscher Geister in Handlová? Der Umgang mit dem Erbe der Karpatendeutschen in der Slowakei“ (Bringing the German Ghosts of Handlová Back to Life? How Slovakia is Dealing with the Heritage of the Carpathian Germans). In his contribution Michal presented the German cultural heritage or more precisely its remnants in Handlová as ghosts haunting the town’s inhabitants. While showing the audience various examples he could identify during his fieldwork Michal focused on the question, how the locals perceive these ghosts nowadays. Even though he had to conclude that the remnants of the German heritage in Handlová and in Slovakia in general are being widely ignored, he stressed the existence of few civic initiatives that aim at living with German ghosts „justly“. That means that they are trying to reinterpret and transform the German heritage in the contemporary context. In the following discussion the audience was interested in examples of „exorcism“ and the topic of ghosts from the perspective of the German expellees. Moreover, the discussion tackled the question of morality and pragmatism in regard to the recycling of German ghosts (especially German gravestones and cemeteries).

On April 17th, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, was a guest speaker at the Interdisciplinary Scientific Seminar at Wrocław University of Science and Technology. She gave a lecture titled Topolgangers: the double life of the “recovered” cities. In her presentation, she explored the idea that formerly German cities remain their identity hidden underneath their Polish, Czech or Slovak one. As the vehicles of reminding the inhabitants of this double life she analyzed various objects present in the city spaces, the Spectral Recycling team found out during the fieldwork of the respective members. She clarified that the objects left behind serve as remnants of previous cultures, allowing new residents to interact with the lingering presence of the displaced.

Karolina was invited by the Academia Iuvenum (made up of young scientists from Wrocław University of Science and Technology who are successfully conducting research projects, the elite group is tasked to undertake various initiatives for the benefit of the university, provide a platform for the exchange of scientific ideas, and enable young scientists to express their opinions inside and outside the university). She wants to warmly thank Marta Rusnak and Dawid Skrzypczak from the Academia who organized her visit. It was also a great opportunity to get to know more about the research currently done at the University and explore the doppelganger side of Wrocław, formerly German Breslau.

On Monday, April 15th, our series of seminars with invited guests continued – this time Associate Professor Stanislav Holubec from the Institute of History of the Czech Academy of Sciences accepted our invitation. We have been following his work for a long time and were therefore happy to learn about the results of his project Central European Mountains Krkonoše 1890-1950: Modernity, Tourism, Nationalism where he studied the modern history of the mountain range that is situated on the Czech- Polish border and that was inhabited by German-speaking communities until 1946. 

Stanislav has done archival research on both sides of the Czech-Polish border and shared with us his findings on the different character of the postwar resettlement in the two countries and the different policies and practices of how the German past of this mountain range was rewritten into the Czech(oslovak) and Polish narrative after the Second World War. 

Furthermore, Stanislav explored the exile culture of the expelled Germans who preserved and re-created the image of the Krkonoše (Riesengebirge in German and Karkonosze in Polish) even in exile in West Germany. 

Since both Karolina and Karina are partially doing their research in the region, there was a vivid discussion not just about the findings themselves but also about methodological issues of research in the borderlands and possible future directions in the research of mountain areas in general. 

Our researcher, Michal Korhel, spent two weeks in March doing fieldwork in Slovakia. His aim was predominantly to look for the first and second generations of settlers who came to Handlová after World War II. However, during his travels he encountered more ghosts than he expected.

Michal’s first stop was Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava. There he got a meeting with the author and director of the first theatre play that tackled the topic of the forced expulsion of Germans from Slovakia – Domov! (Home!). As the story of the play took place in his home town of Kežmarok and its surroundings, in the interview Michal additionally gained a comparative perspective to his research in Handlová.

Handlová itself was Michal’s next stop. There he was able to live in a formerly German stone house (nowadays a place where the local German community regularly meets). With its thick and cold walls one could at least partly imagine how the living standards might have looked like. Right on his first day in Handlová, a narrator took Michal to the „field“: in this case almost literally, as they went to the forests and meadows surrounding the town, collecting information for the narrator’s own research. He attempts to use the knowledge of the prewar cultivation of land (such as planting fruit trees and bushes away from human housing), in order to keep the animals in the nature and use the uncultivated parts of the local environment.

In Handlová and towns in its vicinity Michal conducted interviews with settlers, who or whose ancestors came to Handlová from Belgium, Hungary and Romania. As one of them came to Handlová together with her parents already during the war, Michal got a valuable account on the time directly after the war’s end and empty German houses that were not that empty after all. Even though Michal set up some meetings already in advance based on a call for participants, he also walked through the streets of Handlová in hope to gain some information talking to people “over the fence”.

At the end of Michal’s fieldwork a narrator took him for a short road trip. It was the same route that is usually shown to German visitors, who come to Hauerland to see the home of their ancestors. From Handlová the trip went to formerly German settlements Sklené / Glaserhau, Kremnické Bane / Johannesberg, Kunešov / Kuneschhau and Janova Lehota / Drexlerhau. Additionally, in Kunešov Michal and his guide took a walk following the path the German miners from the village regularly took on their way to the mine in Handlová.

Czech history of the women’s movement is often limited to the history of Czech-speaking women, neglecting the role of ethnic minorities. However, the women’s movement of the German-speaking minority also flourished in the Czech lands. Karina’s article in journal Rovné příležitosti v souvislostech issued by Gender Studies, o.p.s. sheds light on these overlooked aspects of Czech history. You can read it here (in Czech).

In February Magdalena made her first field trip to northern Poland, and her destination was Piła (formerly German Schneidemühl) and the surrounding area. During this time, she tried to find the German ghosts that were related to the church sphere, and so she visited the churches of Piła. Among them were the formerly Protestant churches, which now belong to the Roman Catholic Church, but she also tried to seek for those that are no longer there. St. John’s Church (Johanneskirche) was such an example. Magdalena was looking for its story. After the Second World War the church deteriorated, was demolished and now there is an apartment building. However, after more than 50 years the Protestant parish in Piła was reactivated and a new church was built just a few meters next to the the place of the destroyed one. It also bears the name of Saint John as a memory of the old one. Magdalena could see a new building during the Sunday service. She also found some pre-war postcards and she made an interview with the pastor. 

Another example was the formerly Protestant church in Stara Łubianka (formerly German Lebehnke) converted into a Community Center. Currently it is in private hands. Its image has changed so much that locating it was not an easy task. 

Magdalena heard a lot about the earlier adherents of Protestantism from local Catholic priests and the members of Catholic parishes. She searched for German ghosts not only in churches, but also by climbing up the steps leading to church towers in search of bells and by trying to locate old Protestant cemeteries. Magdalena also spent part of her stay in the archives, museum and library.  

Moreover, in order to get a sense of the local atmosphere, Magdalena took part in the celebration of the so called “return of the city of Piła to the Motherland”, i.e. commemoration of the incorporation of the town into Poland in 1945, where it was possible to listen to a lecture on the conquest of the city, and its underground shelters, but also to see an exhibition of military equipment and vehicles.  

Magdalena has collected a great amount of material, but this is certainly not her last field research in the area; she will continue her research in the coming months. 

Our researcher, Karina Hoření, was invited for a guest lecture at the Department of Sociological Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Charles University. She presented our project and her findings to international and Czech students of the course Anthropology of East Central Europe. The students also worked with ethnographic postcards – a methodological experiment by Endre Dányi, Lucy Suchman and Laura Watts that our research team use to share our findings. Each week, every team member shares one photograph from their research with the others. Students working with these postcards were encouraged to analyze the visuality of post-displacement. 

We are happy to announce that in the course of her fieldwork in Wałcz, our PI, Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, is collaborating with the new initiative of the Wałcz Land Museum, namely the project “Wałcz DNA”. You can read more about it here. The project aims to gather stories about the postwar history of Wałcz and collect memorabilia of the first settlers. By writing down the stories about the lives of the postwar inhabitants of the town and its surroundings, the Museum wants to create a memory room in the building of the Wałcz Land Museum, which will tell about the post-war everyday life of the new inhabitants of Wałcz and the surrounding area.

Since the Museum initiative, funded by the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage as part of the National Institute of Museums’ program “Memory Rooms”, is focused on the objects that the newcomers brought with them, it perfectly aligns with the aims of the SpectralRecycling project. As we want to uncover the stories behind the objects left behind by the previous German inhabitants of the region, we can easily join forces.

Thus far, we have conducted several interviews together. Karolina was also able to dive into the rich collection of the Museum archival sources, connected with the German past of Wałcz. On February 21, 2024, Karolina gave a lecture at the meeting of the local club for international collaboration. We are looking forward to further collaboration and the outcomes! We can’t wait to see the exhibition that will come from this project.

The Most Przyjaźni, or Friendship Bridge, connects the towns of Český Těšín and Cieszyn, once one locality. The bridge carries the ghosts of the past, symbolizing both division and unity. Magdalena Bubík, a PhD student in SpectralRecycling project, seeks to understand and navigate these complex historical and cultural nuances in the new blog post you can read here.