From December 6-8, 2024, Big Book Cafe MDM hosted “Między nami mówiąc: Festiwal spraw polsko-niemieckich”. This three-day festival, supported by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, highlighted important topics shared by Poles and Germans through books, debates, and performances.

One of the festival’s key events was the debate “Recovered – Lost: On Lands, Things, and Fates”, focusing on the post-war changes in Polish-German borders that led to forced migrations, resettlements, and their ongoing social ramifications. Among the guests was our PI, Karolina. She joined Prof. Maren Röger from the University of Leipzig and journalist Nancy Waldmann for an engaging discussion moderated by Dominika Buczak, author of “Całe piękno świata”, a novel devoted to the intertwined histories of Polish and German families.

The discussion explored how expulsion and resettlement are remembered in both Polish and German societies, addressing the myths and facts surrounding this period. It provided deep insights into how past events shape current Polish-German relations, the ongoing efforts to reconcile and understand these histories, and how they are instrumentalized in populist discourses on both sides.

You can see a recording from the meeting (in Polish) on Facebook profile of Big Book Cafe.