The path into the unknown

At the end of the Second World War, an unprecedented population shift of this magnitude began in Central and Central Eastern Europe, which affected Poles and Germans in particular. Millions of people fled or were expelled from their homes. For them, the end of the war was by no means the end of their suffering, but was often only the beginning of an agonising period that led to the irrevocable loss of their homeland. Many Germans and Poles shared the fate of feeling alienated and uprooted. Nevertheless, this commonality was suppressed and concealed in the collective memory of both nations for decades. The global political situation as well as the domestic political situation had always determined the public approach to the topic and produced very different forms of remembrance and interpretation.

The current exhibition attempts to remember this part of German-Polish post-war history and to portray flight, forced resettlement and loss of homeland from the perspective of both nations.

In cooperation with Haus Schlesien and the museums in Glogau and Neisse, the special exhibition aims to encourage people to take a closer look at the history of their neighbours, to get to know their views and memories and to try to understand them by presenting the fate of the Silesians who were displaced between 1945 and 1947 and the Poles who settled in Silesia. Because only understanding can lead to reconciliation.

Last edited on 02.08.2024