Info brochure Remembrance Connects Oder-Warta

The development of a common identifying umbrella brand and phi- losophy for the „Places of Remem- brance of the Oder-Warta Region“ requires an examination of the term „remembrance“, as well as an ex- amination of regional history in all its facets. If one takes the three focal points of remembrance on their own, a defi- nition of the term and delimitation is relatively simple. At the same time, the focal points also delineate three significantly formative epochs from one another. Memory is character- ised by technical and social achieve- ments, especially in the space of common history and culture and at the end of the space of discovery and togetherness, and thus has a positive connotation. Depending on one‘s point of view, the space of fate holds a rather am- bivalent memory potential. From January 1945, the end of the Sec- ond World War hit the region with all its force through one of the largest battles in Europe and left the deep- est scars. Above all, however, the subsequent division into Polish and German ter- ritories divided the region and inter- rupted the common development process for a long time. In addition, state authoritarian influences result- ed in partially completely different perspectives and perceptions of the common history, including new language barriers. Winners, losers, heroes, victims or perpetrators are widespread patterns of interpreta- tion. The new socialist Poland had to come to terms with the inherited German heritage east of the river Oder after the Polish people suf- fered extermination, oppression and cultural destruction at the hands of the Nazi regime. This confronta- tion continues to the present day as a basic question of German- Polish reconciliation as well as a ba- sic question in the search for Polish identity and identification in the for- mer German territories. The differentiated understanding of history is the most challenging but at the same time also the highest point of tension in the development of a jointly identifying, cross-border tour- ist umbrella brand „Remembrance connects“. The project thus crosses not only national borders but also di- viding lines in the culture of remem- brance. The predominant international inter- est obviously lies in the significance of the Oder-Warta region as a land- scape of remembrance for the end of the Second World War in Europe, accompanied by the crushing of the National Socialist dictatorship at its origin. The surprising added value, howev- er, is found in the circumstances of the forced parallel social develop- ments after the end of the war and the associated differentiated reap- praisals and interpretations of histo- ry that continue to have an impact today. Oder-Warta Region - a space for multi-perspective remembering The great opportunity of the project “Places of Remembrance Oder-War- ta” is to let the different cultural per- spectives of remembrance enter into an exchange with each other. The region is of regional, nation- al and international tourist interest. Networking across the German-Pol- Philosophy and Method