On Monday, 15 June, Karolina was invited to participate in a conference promoting knowledge about the history and post-1945 development of the formerly German territories incorporated into Poland. The conference, organized by Tygodnik Powszechny, one of Poland’s leading magazines, took place in the Polish Sejm, the seat of Parliament. The venue underscored the event’s character as a discussion about Poland’s past and present, viewed through a regional lens.
Karolina took part in the first panel alongside Eryk Krasucki from the University of Szczecin. Their discussion explored various trajectories of development, focusing on individual experiences and the ways local communities negotiated centrally imposed propaganda while attempting to settle and feel at home amid the remnants of German material culture. She illustrated her statements with examples drawn also from the research conducted within our project.
The subsequent panels examined contemporary sociological research on how these territories are perceived both by their inhabitants and by people elsewhere in Poland. They also addressed the extent to which artistic practices shape perceptions of life in the formerly German regions, as opposed to reflecting lived realities.
The heated debate continued until late afternoon, demonstrating that this remains a highly relevant and engaging topic. We are now looking forward to July, when the results of the sociological study conducted by the Instytut Zachodni in Poznań will be published. These findings will provide an excellent point of comparison for our own site-specific and qualitative research.