Lower Silesia – Literary Emanations (1945-2010)

Abstract

Niederschlesien, Dolni Slezsko, Silesia Interior. These are only three among many different names that define Silesia region. Variety of words describing this geographical area is a symbol of its complex political history. Over the centuries this land belonged to the Poles, Czechs, Germans respectively. In 1945, after the Second World War, Silesia became part of Poland again, but its former rulers had marked it by their cultures and traditions. The region was inhabited mostly by residents of the former Polish eastern borderland. This territory, on the strength of Yalta and Potsdam conferences’ agreements, was irreversibly lost in ZSRR’s favor. Polish settlers in Silesia replaced Germans, who were forced to start new lives on post-war Germany territories. I would like to present how over 60 years (1945-2010) Polish writers have been perceiving and describing the process of the Silesia recolonization. I will adopt following perspectives: 1. Silesia before the war as an emanation of the borderland (e.g. works by Marian Jachimowicz). 2. Different Poles’ attitudes towards germanness of the region (e.g. Henryk Worcell and Marek Krajewski). 3. Apology of the myth of multiculturalism (e.g. Tokarczuk). 4. The convention called Lower Silesia little realism as an individual effort to put down roots in the new land (e.g. Wojciech Grabkowski). 5. 'Lower Silesia – place called nowhere' – an unknown space as an alternative to well-worn convention (Lower Silesia young writers). After analyzing these issues, I will try to answer the question concerning the role of Silesia in Polish literature, and I will discuss the parallels between the role of Silesia motif in Polish literature and the initiation myth.