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.