The cultural memory of the German minority in Silesia. Between the difficult past and challanges of the present

Marek Mazurkiewicz

University of Opole, Institute of Political Science
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5551-2626

Abstract

The German minority in Poland, after the turn of 1989 had undergone a process of revival after a period of more than 40 years of tabooing its presence. The community faced a dilemma of choosing the direction of (re)building its own identity. Another problem that arose at the same time was the issue of anchoring its collective memory. In this context, the culture of the German minority in Silesia seems to be a highly interesting and still under-researched research area. The German minority as a community, have, since 1989, the opportunity to form its own, regional, Polish-German memory. The construction of this multicoloured memory, which co-shapes the contemporary Polish and German discourse, unintentionally encounters problems and contradictions.

Keywords:

cultural memory, collective memory, Upper Silesia, Polish-German relations, German minority on Upper Silesia