Travel Guide "Remembrance Connects Region Oder-Warta"

Stät t en der Er i nnerung E i nl e i tung 6 7 P L ACE S OF REMEMBRANCE i ntroduct i on Introduction The Oder-Warthe region has a unique and surprisingly diverse landscape of remembrance. Located on both sides of the German-Poliash border east of Berlin, more than 200 sites tell the story of a region shaped by knightly orders, Prussian military history, agri- cultural and industrial developments, the Second World War, Poland‘s west- ward shift, socialist dictatorship and the Cold War, German reunification, the founding of the European Union, and Poland‘s accession to the EU. The region also offers a charming natural landscape along the Oder and Warta rivers, which converge at the former fortress of Küstrin, in today‘s Kostrzyn nad Odrą. Learn from different perspectives how the settlement of the Oder-Warthe region began. How it was tamed and shaped, experienced agricultural and industrial upswings, overcame wars and conflicts. How it became the battlefield for the last battle before Berlin in the Second World War. How Poland‘s westward shift tore life apart along a new border, reordered popu- lations and cultures of memory, and gave rise to a language barrier. How Soviet occupation and socialist dic- tatorship took shape and the region around Berlin became the demarcati- on line of the Cold War. How glasnost and perestroika created openings in borders and ideologies, opening the way for a common Europe. And how the people of the region came through it all, whether as workers or farmers, artists or industrialists, winners or losers, perpetrators or victims. Three eras are of particular import- ance for the Oder-Warthe region and are reflected in the guidebook: • A historically common cultural area until 1933 • The Schicksalsraum (space of fate), 1933-1946 • A meeting and discovery space from around 1946 Discover this fascinating region from multiple perspectives as a landscape of memory, with plenty of space for communal remembering. „REMEM- BERING CONNECTS“ is the motto for open exchange and for the freedom to shape a common peaceful future.