Polish- German societal and cultural relationships
We would like to present a new publication of the Institute for Western Affairs’ Publishing House entitled: ”Polsko-niemieckie stosunki społeczne i kulturalne” (Polish-German societal and cultural relationships) edited by Andrzej Sakson.
65 years after WW2, re-united Germany has become Poland’s ally in NATO and the European Union. Today, Germany is Poland’s major economic partner. Highly relevant to the breakthrough and normalisation of Polish-German relations were: the end on the 1989-1990 cold war between the West and the East which resulted in the fall of the communist rule in Poland and the re-unification of Germany, Germany’s final recognition of its post-WW2 western border, signing of two fundamental treaties in 1990 and 1991 on the recognition of border lines and fostering friendly cooperation, and Poland’s accession to the European Union.Today’s pragmatic cooperation was preceded by compromises (1990-1998), a “little distance” (1998-2004) and worsening of the bilateral relations (2005-2007).In Polish-German relations, societal and cultural relationships play an important role and this includes direct, face-to-face contacts and meetings between Poles and Germans. They have created a dense network which has a significant impact on the climate of official bilateral relations. The first part of this volume includes papers that refer to some aspects of the shared and difficult history that still have an impact on the modern relationship between the two countries. Andrzej Sakson discusses the stereotypes of the Pole and Poland in modern Germany pointing to the fact that despite a major change in Polish-German relations in the last 20 years, the old negative stereotypes persist. The German perception of Poles is still conditioned by the German conviction that Slavs are inferior in terms of their culture and civilisation.In the early 21st c., issues related to WW2 and its consequences were still destructive to the bilateral relations. Piotr Kubiak presents the evolution of German politics of memory (Geschichtspolitik) and its impact on Germany’s relations with Poland. The recent symbol of historical misunderstandings between the two countries and nations has been the Centre against Expulsions (ZgV). Erika Steinbach, the president of the Federation of Expellees, has become its negative and personalised symbol. An important ”case study” of Polish-German controversies involving the legacy of the past is the paper by Maria Rutowska on restitution of heritage artefacts. Rutowska points to formal, legal issues of restitution of artefacts stolen and “re-located” during WW2. She presents the scale of Polish losses and the complications and controversies surrounding some collections and individual objects. A truly significant case is the still unsolved issue of a part of the art collection of the Prussian State Library in Berlin, which is now in Cracow (Jagiellonian University Library). This collection is called ‘Berlinka’ in Polish and contains manuscripts of eminent German artists and prints and books from the 19th and 20th c. The following papers focus on issues that are not so history bound. Their authors concentrate on culture, mass media and the cooperation of local (self) governments. Maria Wagińska-Marzec writes about Polish-German cultural cooperation. She discusses some of its manifestations in detail looking at their contexts and relevance for the dialogue between the two nations. German investments in mass media are the topic of Marcin Tujdowski’s paper in which he reconstructs the expansion of German media corporations onto the Polish market and forms of their activities. Polish-German cooperation of local governments, twin cities/communes and Euro-regions at the Polish-German border is the topic of Witold Ostant’s paper. He analyses various cooperation forms and patterns pointing to the benefits of the cooperation to the inhabitants of the borderlands.
In the series: Republika Federalna Niemiec 20 lat po zjednoczeniu. Polityka – gospodarka społeczeństwo (The Federal Republic of Germany Twenty Years after Reunification. Policy -Economy- Society) the following publications have been published so far:
Volume 0: Moje Niemcy - moi Niemcy. Odpominania polskie (My Germany - my Germans. Polish Reverie about the Past), edited by Hubert Orłowski, Poznań 2009;
Volume 1: Polityka zagraniczna zjednoczonych Niemiec (The Foreign Policy of United Germany) by Jadwiga Kiwerska, Bogdan Koszel, Maria Tomczak, Stanisław Żerko, Poznań 2011;
Volume 2: Gospodarka Niemiecka 20 lat po zjednoczeniu (German Economy Twenty Years after Reunification), edited by Tomasz Budnikowski, Poznań 2011;
Volume 3: Stosunki gospodarcze między Polską a Niemcami 20 lat po zjednoczeniu (Economic Relations between Poland and Germany Twenty Years after Reunification), edited by Piotr Kalka, Poznań 2012;
Volume 4: Niemiecka polityka wobec Polski 1990-2010 (German Policy toward Poland 1990 – 2010), by Bogdan Koszel, Krzysztof Malinowski, Zbigniew Mazur, Poznań 2012;
Volume 5: Kultura zjednoczonych Niemiec. Wybrane problemy (The Culture of United Germany) by Zbigniew Mazur, Hubert Orłowski, Maria Wagińska-Mazur, Poznań 2013;
Volume 6: Niemcy po zjednoczeniu. Społeczeństwo - wielokulturowość - religie (Germany after reunification. Society – Multiculturalism – Religions) by Joanna Dobrowolska-Polak, Natalia Jackowska, Michał Nowosielski, Marcin Tujdowski, Poznań 2013;
Volume 7: Polsko-niemieckie stosunki społeczne i kulturalne (Polish- German societal and cultural relationships), edited by Andrzej Sakson,Poznań 2013;
More information about publication here.
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