Uprooted (ebook)

Argumento de Uprooted (ebook)

"Uprooted provides useful reminders of the ways in postwar Wroclaw was a 'normal' as well as an exceptional city. . . . Thum's book is a highly stimulating contribution to a range of discussions in history and the social sciences, as well as essential reading for those interested in the epic population transfers of mid-twentieth-century Central Europe."--James Bjork, European History Quarterly

"As a case study from 'the century of expulsions,' Thurn's monograph significantly contributes to uncovering how and why the complex ethnic patchwork of Europe was remade into ostensibly homogenous nation-states. Richly illustrated, well translated, and available at an affordable price, it will offer valuable insights to scholars and students alike and should prove useful in courses on ethnic cleansing, urban history, memory studies, the Twentieth Century, East Central Europe, and Modem Germany."--Andrew Demshuk, Canadian Journal of History

"Thum displays expert skills--and an engaging prose style--both as a political and social historian and as a practitioner of the cultural history of cities and their architectural landscape. . . . This book offers the most imaginative treatment of the western territories' Polonization now accessible in the English language. Its translation is smooth, and its production with many excellent illustrations does Princeton University Press credit. It is a work that helps to humanize the Polish-German borderlands in the aftermath of their most inhumane era."--William W. Hagen, Journal of Modern History

"[C]ritical yet empathetic account."--Choice

"Thum has written a compelling contribution to our understanding of the culture and politics of communist Poland."--Padraic Kenney, American Historical Review

"This is a terrific book. The voices of Poles and Germans from the past come alive, as Thum purposefully and carefully makes use of memoirs, diaries, and archival sources to reconstruct the fascinating early postwar history of Breslau/Wrocław."--Norman M. Naimark, author of Stalin's Genocides

"The story that Thum tells is . . . uniquely compelling. . . . This book must be counted among the most successful efforts to illuminate the epic demographic revolution that occurred east of the Oder-Neisse after 1945, and most historians of this process will want to consult it."--Richard Blanke, Slavic Review

"This excellent work of urban history tells the story of how German Breslau was turned into Polish Wrocław. Thum shows the difficulties of the new inhabitants to accept the city--which had been ethnically cleansed of its German population--as their home city and the place with which they could identify."--Philipp Ther, coeditor of Redrawing Nations: Ethnic Cleansing in East-Central Europe, 1944-1948

"Thum'' study deliberately renounces pathos and accusations, renounces open or covert manipulation of the reader--without losing sight of human suffering. . . . It puts emphasis on the structures of 'memory politics,' throws light on the long-term impact of the construction of political myths, and elucidates the working methods of 'engineers of cultural memory,' who of course haven't only existed in Breslau past and present."--Wolfgang Thierse, Kulturjournal

"Thum's thoroughly researched book makes a valuable contribution to an emerging field of study and sheds new light on the complex and sensitive issue of Polish-German relations, and the regional, national and cultural consequences of forced migrations over generations."--Stephanie Rauch, Urban History

"Undoubtedly, Thum's book is an important contribution to the field of European urban history, since Breslau-Wroclaw may be perceived as an ideal example of a European city. Thanks to its unique geopolitical position, situated at the crossroads of three countries--Germany, the Czech Republic, and Poland--Wroclaw was exposed to various social, political, and cultural influences during its long history."--Radoslaw Misiarz, Polish Review0Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Names xi
Prologue A Dual Tragedy xiii
The Destruction of Breslau xvii Poland's Shift to the West xxxi
Introduction 1

PART ONE: The Postwar Era: Rupture and Survival
Chapter One: Takeover 17
A Fait Accompli 17
The Mission of the Government Plenipotentiaries 20
"Noah's Ark" in Krakow 22
Poles and Russians-A Secret Hostility 29
Russians and Germans-An Unsettling Friendship 36
The Patriotic Reorganization of the Church 43

Chapter Two: Moving People 53
The Evacuation of the Germans 62 The Settlement of the Poles 65
The Resettlement Apparatus and the Migration of Peoples 74
Searching for Urban Settlers 89 The Ruralization of the City 98

Chapter Three: A Loss of Substance 105
Vandalism and the Great Fires 106
Soviet Dismantling 110
The "Szabrownicy" and the Black Market 118
Polish Dismantling 126
The Decay of Residential Housing 132

Chapter Four: Reconstruction 140
Wroc?aw between Provincial City and Bustling Metropolis 140
Momentum and Stagnation 143
Raising the Old Town from Its Ashes 153
1956 and a Changing Building Policy 160

PART TWO: The Politics of the Past: The City's Transformation
Chapter Five The Impermanence Syndrome 171
An Alien Place 173
A Motley Society 178
The Capital of Poland's
"Wild West" 181 Sitting on Packed Suitcases 186

Chapter Six Propaganda as Necessity 190
The Tradition of Polish Western Thought (My?l Zachodnia) 191
Nationalism and Communism in the People's Republic 194
The Advocates of Western Thought 198
The Phases of Propaganda 207
Language Conventions 212
The Success of Propaganda and the Requirements of the Time 215

Chapter Seven: Mythicizing History 217
The Land of the Piasts 222 Wroc?aw's Eternal Ties to Poland 227
Prussia's Conquest and Wroc?aw's Decline 229
A Bastion of Polishness 232
From Friedrich II to Hitler: German Continuities 236
The Pioneers of 1945 240
Migrations 241

Chapter Eight Cleansing Memory 244
Polonization: Places, Streets, and People 244
De-Germanization: Inscriptions, Monuments, Cemeteries 266

Chapter Nine The Pillars of an Imagined Tradition 288
A New Coat of Arms 294
The Power of Old Monuments and the Placelessness of New Ones 297
The Noisy Silence of Local Historiography 310
The Ritual of Commemoration 317

Chapter Ten: Old Town, New Contexts 323
Warsaw as a Model 325
The Sacralization of the Gothic 329
The Toleration of the Baroque 348
The Anti-Prussian Reflex 360
Historic Buildings and Forced Migration 372

PART THREE: Prospects
Chapter Eleven: Amputated Memory and the Turning Point of 1989 381
The City without a Memory 382 The Revolution in German-Polish Relations 385
The Fall of Communism and the Discovery of the Bourgeois City 393
Wroc?aw's Search for a New Local Identity 402

Appendix 1 List of Abbreviations 409
Appendix 2 Translations of Polish Institutions 411
Appendix 3 List of Polish and German Street Names 412
Notes 417
Sources and Literature 459
Map of Poland after the Westward Shift of 1945 494
Simplified Map of Wroc?aw Today 495
Index 497