Travel Guide "Remembrance Connects Region Oder-Warta"

4 5 P L ACE S OF REMEMBRANCE Pre face P L ACE S OF REMEMBRANCE Pre face In the form of „Europa. Nasza historia / Europe. Our History“ (four volumes 2016-2020), Polish and German his- torians and history didacticians within joint working groups have succeeded in writing the world‘s second bilateral history textbook. More than one hund- red scholars from six countries wrote nine volumes dealing with German and Polish memorials (2012-2018), with the aim of getting to know each other better and understanding the difficult past. And yet, it is difficult to at once tell the story of both Poland and Germany, two neighbouring countries in the middle of Europe. This history is standing in the shadow of the last two centuries – the shadow of Prussia/Germany‘s colonial power in the 19th century, the Second World War and its brutal German occupation of Poland, border changes, and forced relocations. The condition of unhealed wounds and unresolved emotions is perpetuated by politicians for short-sighted, internal purposes. And yet, the dialogue continues... At the level of local government offici- als, independent civic organisations, academics, teachers, and artists. This is not about who is right, about who is better or stronger. Essentially, it is about mutual understanding and a common consensus. In this sense, I also see the initiative as forming a common memory of the Middle Oder/ Oder-Warthe region, which is suppor- ted by the cities of Seelow, Kostrzyn/ Küstrin and the municipality of Słońsk/ Sonnenburg. At the beginning of the 21st century, a prominent German politician told me that, because of their shared experience of expulsion and depor- tation, Poles and Germans can finally understand each other better, in that they share a common destiny. Is that truly the case? We quickly came to the conclusion that we would only come to understand each other better if we both had the desire and the will to learn about our neighbour‘s history. Poles and Germans are united by mass expulsion, but they have been separated, for example, by the experience of Germany‘s occupation of Poland. The work of remembrance is not about romanticising our own past, but about recognising the distinctiveness of our neighbour. We need not be in agree- ment, but we should develop sensiti- vity for our neighbour‘s experiences. The regions in the immediate vicinity of the German-Polish border enable us to observe history up close. Places, events, and prominent personalities no longer have a merely abstract Polish or German meaning. They are more tangible, more concrete, thus possessing a human rather than an ideological dimension. It is not that the region was once free and open, until 1945 arrived and sepa- rated them. It was divided by a state border for the first time in 1945, but it was also shaped, conquered and di- vided up over centuries at the behest of governors and local interests, as it suited the rulers of the time. Today we can find traces of past times in the cultural landscape, because, as Karl Schlögel wrote: „In space we read time.“ In addition to the traces of time, we should not forget the people who have given significance to the loca- tions. This process of finding forgotten places and giving them a historical meaning requires knowledge and em- pathy. The fact that „something“ does not exist in today‘s memory should not lead us to overlooking it. Loca- tions (Latin loci) become a living (fun- ctional) memory when we give them meaning and tell a story about them that reaches people, their imagination, and their emotions. If we succeed in doing that, we can create places of remembrance – loci memoriae – from Know the past, understand history, etch it in memory forgotten historical sites that will be close to present and future genera- tions. Through such places, we can also shape our mutual German and Polish perception. And the difficult legacy that is „not ours“ can realisti- cally be „shared“. Robert Traba o d e r - w a r t h e erinnerung v e r b i n d e t O D E R - W A R T A REMEMBRANCE C O N N E C T S