Odřanie - Novým Polskem od Slezska k moři – Rokita Zbigniew (2025)

An essential reportage guide for a journey to the Baltic, but also just beyond the Polish-Czech border. A narrative about the complicated post-war relationship with a new country and one's own identity, reminiscent of what we know from the Czech Sudetenland. Zbigniew Rokita raises unspoken questions that have lingered for decades.

One stroke of a pen shifted post-war Poland two hundred kilometers to the west. That pen was held by Stalin, and that land previously belonged to the German Empire. Former Polish territories in the east became part of the Soviet Union. The border shifted, and people had to follow it – both Germans and Poles. The latter suddenly found themselves in houses where someone might still have lunch cooking on the table. Photos of a foreign family hung on the walls. And the architecture had a different character. Those red bricks were everywhere. But how long will that border hold? No one knew, and it's difficult to settle in a provisional situation, especially when communist propaganda is relentless, coming up with slogans about reclaimed territories, stories of ancient kings and their claims. The situation is even more complicated in Silesia, where national boundaries were much less distinct. In school, you hear about the Polish struggle for freedom against German oppression, but your grandfather might have had to enlist in the Wehrmacht, and your grandmother spoke a language that...