Info brochure Remembrance Connects Oder-Warta

east of the Oder was systematical- ly expelled. People from the former eastern Polish regions were forcibly resettled here and had to create a new home for themselves, with their own memories, history and culture. The Oder-Warta region and espe- cially Frankfurt (Oder) became a transfer station for millions of dis- placed persons, returning soldiers, released prisoners of war of the Germans and the Soviets as well as convicted German war criminals and opponents of the new Soviet occupation. Former German pris- on camps in the Soviet occupation zone became special camps of the NKVD and collection points for Ger- man war criminals and opponents of socialism, who in turn were deport- ed via Frankfurt (Oder) to Siberia. The inhabitants of the Oder-Warta region experienced further fateful cuts due to the socialist land reform (1945/46) as well as natural disasters such as the harsh winter of 1945 or the Oder flood disaster in March 1947. Today, numerous places of remem- brance on both sides of the border represent the era of the space of fate in an extremely multi-layered way and from very different per- spectives. In terms of its density and significance, this thematically very heavy heritage constitutes a unique selling point in a European and worldwide comparison. The different perspectives of the winners, losers, perpetrators, vic- tims or heroes and their respective forms of representation in turn cre- ate a special field of tension as well as motivations for memory tourism. The space of fate Oder-Warta holds enormous potential for the devel- opment of an international histori- cally unique place of learning. 25 1 13 22 17