Published : 2016-11-30

Shaping Post-war Regional Communities in the Recovered Territories in the Light of Diaries, Accounts and Memoirs of Settlers from the Area of Ziemia Głogowska

Abstract

This paper presents a collection of diaries, accounts and memoirs published from 2006 to 2015 as a series of publications showing the post-war history of Lower Silesia, and Ziemia Głogowska in particular. The events of 1945 were the starting point for describing the lives of those who settled in the Recovered Territories. When comparing the fates of these people, the author also takes account of their experiences of World War II.
The Poles who settled in the Recovered Territories and Ziemia Głogowska after 1945 had different fates and experiences. Among the settlers were expatriates, people driven out of the eastern lands, those deported during the war by Soviet authorities and those displaced from central Poland. They had diverse social backgrounds and various professions.
All accounts discussed in this paper are unique and have exceptional qualities. They contain a lot of valuable information, showing diff erent ways by which people of this region headed for their new ‘little homeland’. In addition, these memories are an invaluable source of description of everyday life, mental attitudes and the process in which the Poles were rooted in these lands. They also make it possible to reconstruct local particularities and the social climate of the post-war years.
In the years 1945–1950, the population in Ziemia Głogowska was not uniform in ethno-cultural terms and the integration process was slow. Creating new social ties took place in three stages. The initial stage of the colonization of the Recovered Territories was characterized by separatism resulting from diff erences in the regional origins of settlers (including various traditions and visions of the functioning of the community). The second stage of integration and adaptation (until 1958) was characterized by a gradual loss of cultural diff erences, the penetration of diverse regional cultures and the emergence of a sense of attachment to these lands. In the third stage (after 1958), people ceased to doubt that these lands belonged to Poland only temporarily and made this area similar to the rest of the country.
The post-war memoirs give a multifaceted picture of the post-war reality, thus contributing significantly to the achievements of post-war Polish historiography concerning Ziemia Głogowska, and more broadly, the Recovered Territories.

Keywords:

Ziemia Głogowska, Recovered Territories, diaries, accounts, memoirs, resettlement



Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf (Język Polski)

Citation rules

Górniak, M. R. (2016). Shaping Post-war Regional Communities in the Recovered Territories in the Light of Diaries, Accounts and Memoirs of Settlers from the Area of Ziemia Głogowska. Biografistyka Pedagogiczna, 1(1), 193–216. https://doi.org/10.36578/BP.2016.01.12

Altmetric indicators


Cited by / Share


Logo Open Access

"Biografistyka Pedagogiczna" received funding for the years 2022-2024 from the funds of the Minister of Education and Science under the programme „Rozwój Czasopism Naukowych”.

Project duration: 2023-2024.

The amount of co-financing is 65 992,00 PLN

Contract number: RCN/SP/0434/2021/1