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Best regards, Andrew Stewart Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > Date: July 5, 2018 at 2:18:23 AM EDT > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Poland]: JasiĹ„ski on Polak-Springer, 'Recovered > Territory: A German-Polish Conflict over Land and Culture, 1919-1989' > Reply-To: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.msu.edu> > > Peter Polak-Springer. Recovered Territory: A German-Polish Conflict > over Land and Culture, 1919-1989. New York Berghahn Books, 2015. > xxi + 280 pp. $100.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-78238-887-6. > > Reviewed by Łukasz Jasiński (Muzeum Miasta Gdyni, Museum of the > City of Gdynia) > Published on H-Poland (July, 2018) > Commissioned by Anna Muller > > An In-depth View on Language, Propaganda, and Architecture in > Polish-German Relations during Borderland Conflict > > A tangled web of Polish-German relations in the twentieth century has > been one of the main areas of scholarly interest in both countries. > Despite a significant number of publications and scientific projects > dealing with relations between these two states, there are still > areas that require in-depth studies in terms of both microhistory and > wider examinations dealing with crucial political events and social > phenomena. Peter Polak-Springer's _Recovered Territory: A > German-Polish Conflict over Land and Culture, 1919-1989 _is an > attempt to combine regional history with broader political and social > analysis. Polak-Springer focuses on reconstructing the history of > Polish-German rivalry over the Upper Silesia region, which, after the > end of World War I, became a new borderland, torn by rivalry between > the reborn Polish state and both the Weimar Republic and, after 1933, > the Third Reich. The author conducts a reconstruction of nationalist > movements in two parts of Upper Silesia supported and even championed > by central and local authorities, which aimed to prove that only one > of the protagonists had a right to Silesia. > > Polak-Springer presents a transnational history of irredentism as > popular culture and its promotion at the grassroots. Through a wide > variety of examples, he covers Polish-German disputes and conflicts > not only over the territory itself but also in the sphere of symbols, > language, and culture. He also presents this rivalry as based on a > wide scope of propaganda mechanisms and tools, which often were > rooted in nationalist approaches that aimed to prove either that > Upper Silesia could only be treated as a fully German land or that it > was a perennial part of Polish territory. This book, however, is not > simply limited to mere description of propaganda campaigns conducted > in Upper Silesia by Poles and Germans starting from the end of World > War I and ending with the collapse of Communism in Poland. Instead, > Polak-Springer shows how two nationalist-rooted camps did not only > compete against each other but also interacted, showing a great deal > of similarities in such areas as culture, architecture, language, and > political rallies. > > The chronological frame of this book is 1919 to 1989. These seven > decades were marked by many events to which the author refers: for > example, three anti-German uprisings in Upper Silesia, which broke > out between 1919 and 1921; the division of Upper Silesia between > Poland and Germany, followed by political and social rivalry over > this region; World War II and the German occupation of Poland; the > end of the war and expulsion of the German population from Poland in > 1945; and the politics of Communist authorities toward Upper Silesia > and its inhabitants. Every event is here a subject of analysis from > the prism of conflict over land, culture, and actions conducted by > the two protagonists, which aimed to prove their "exclusive rights" > to this region. > > Polak-Springer divides his book logically into five major chapters > and a short epilogue. The chapters are arranged in chronological > order focusing on the origins and course of the conflict over Upper > Silesia between 1871 and 1939, border rallies as a method of > mobilization of supporters between 1922 and 1934, Polish attempts to > acculturize Upper Silesia as a typical Polish province between 1926 > and 1939, German attempts to "re-germanize" this land between 1939 > and 1945, and expulsions of Germans and the politics of > "re-polonization" of Upper Silesia conducted by Polish Communists > between 1945 and 1956. The epilogue focuses on brief reconstructions > of the German minority in Silesia and consecutive waves of migration > to West Germany, as well as propaganda campaigns conducted by > authorities in Warsaw until 1989. > > The author bases his book on significant research in Polish and > German central and local archives. He conducted research in such > different Polish archives as the Central Archives of Modern Records > in Warsaw (Archiwum Akt Nowych w Warszawie), the State Archives > (Archiwa Państwowe) in Katowice and Opole, and the local Archives of > the Institute of National Remembrance (Oddziałowe Archiwa Instytutu > Pamięci Narodowej) in its Katowice and Wrocław branches. In > Germany, he conducted research in the Federal Archive in > Berlin-Lichterfelde (Bundesarchiv Berlin Lichterfelde) and the > Political Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Politisches > Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes) in Berlin. He also used documents from > the Russian State Military Archive (Rossiski Gosudarstvennyi Voennyi > Arkhiv) in Moscow, as well as articles from the Polish and German > press, and Polish, English, and German publications. > > Despite the large number of sources on which this book is based, > Polak-Springer remains under control of his sources in terms of both > analysis and narrative. The narrative, containing many facts and > individual examples, is interesting and coherent. The author also > incorporates photos and scans of postcards that further emphasize his > main themes, such as the organization of propaganda rallies by both > Poles and Germans, and the treatment of architecture as a symbol of > domination over Upper Silesia. > > A significant merit of the book is undoubtedly its broad scope of > social and political actors. Polak-Springer presents not only > theoretical works of academic centers and scholars from both > countries but also such actors as various borderland leagues, > regional governors, political party leaders, and organizations that > represented Polish and German national minorities. This > multi-perspective approach enables him to go far beyond mere > historical description of political events, to emphasize, which I > already mentioned, the similarities and differences between ways in > which the main political and social actors on both sides of the > border used various propaganda methods to mobilize their supporters. > > Throughout the book, Polak-Springer unveils similarities between > Poles and Germans. He rightly shows that the two sides used similar > patterns of proving their "exclusive right" to this borderland > territory. Particularly interesting in this context is the use of > architecture by both. Modern administrative buildings erected in the > center of Katowice (Kattowitz), serving in the 1930s as a capital of > the voivodeship, the main regional center, were to be proof of the > Polish character of this town, which was officially to flourish under > Polish rule. On the other hand, Germans, by erecting monumental > buildings in Bytom (Beuthen) and Racibórz (Ratibor), wanted to > stress that Silesia was a perennial part of their territory, and > treated these buildings as proof of German cultural superiority. This > motive of a German sense of economic and cultural superiority is one > of the aspects that the author analyzes carefully. He correctly > notices and emphasizes the fact that this old sense of superiority > was confronted with entrenched anti-German stereotypes among Poles. > To make things worse, these antagonisms were given a new energy after > Adolf Hitler gained power in Germany. Polak-Springer gives a handful > of similar examples, such as attempts by both Polish and German > scholars to prove historical, economic, and ethnological terms. > Through such examples, he proves that a borderland conflict based on > nationalism and irredentism is based on actions and reactions, > despite the fact that usually both sides use similar methods of > mobilization of their supporters. > > An interesting case that Polak-Springer includes is the use of > museums and musealizations in creating a myth of exclusively Polish > or respectively German character of Silesia. He describes here a > history of the Silesian Museum in Katowice and the Upper Silesian > Museum in Bytom, which were used as tools of the peculiarly > understood "politics of memory," showing respectively fully Polish or > fully German roots of this borderland. What is more, the Katowice > museum was closed by the Nazis in the wake of the German occupation > in 1939, as symbolic evidence of German domination over this > territory. This focus on museums in terms of Polish-German relations > in the twentieth century is innovative. > > Polak-Springer emphasizes not only the big historical and > ethnological issues but also the situation of ordinary inhabitants of > Silesia, who had a mixed Polish-German identity or felt themselves > simply as locals, without possessing any general national identity. > He includes individual cases of people who opposed forced actions of > giving Upper Silesia a one-dimensional Polish or German "face" > without taking into account its complicated origins and character. > This individual approach enables readers to understand how political > actions influence the life of inhabitants of different regions. > > The book does have some weaknesses. Perhaps the author should have > focused more on postwar propaganda actions officially described as > "regaining Polish Silesia." Although the title indicates that the > time frame this book covers is from 1918 to 1989, it focuses mostly > on the prewar era and World War II. The postwar years are treated as > a kind of supplement to the main narrative. In my opinion, the years > 1956-89 are described rather briefly and require more attention. By > painting a broader panorama of Polish-German relations after 1956 and > destalinization in Poland, this book could have been even more > in-depth and interesting. > > All in all, Polak-Springer took up a serious and demanding challenge. > He gives a multi-perspective analysis combining big history and > politics with local experiences. Thanks to his broad research and > high-quality analysis of resources, he provides a book that gives > readers an opportunity to get to know the complicated and > wide-ranging Polish-German conflict over Upper Silesia. Hopefully, > this book will be an inspiration for other scholars to write such > books concerning other borderlands, such as the Pomeranian region. > > Citation: Łukasz Jasiński. Review of Polak-Springer, Peter, > _Recovered Territory: A German-Polish Conflict over Land and Culture, > 1919-1989_. H-Poland, H-Net Reviews. July, 2018. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=51191 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -- _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
