Polnisches Ostpreußen – Depositär oder Nachfolger der deutschen Vergangenheit? | Polish East Prussia: is it a Deposit of German Culture or a Successor to it?
Volume 30 (2015): Contact Zones in the Historical Area of East Prussia = Kontaktų zonos istoriniame Rytų Prūsijos regione, pp. 146–169
Pub. online: 2 December 2015
Type: Article
Open Access
Open Access
Published
2 December 2015
2 December 2015
Abstract
Changes in the political power and the population in the southern part of East Prussia, which went to Poland in 1945, led to the removal of traces of the German past in the region, and to its Polonisation immediately after the war. After discussing the de-Germanisation policy, typical of the postwar period, the removal of symbols of ‘German power’, the elimination of the ‘German spirit’, and trends in the adaptation of the new population to the cultural landscape, the author raises the question how relations between the population of the territory and the German heritage and past changed after 1989. The issue is considered in the context of the discussion among intellectuals in Poland as to what the relationship with the German heritage should be. The answer is based on the results of a sociological poll carried out by the Institute for Western Affairs in 2001.