Memory anew: about restoring early post-war remembrance in Lower Silesia (Poland) in tourism context

Abstract

ABSTRACT The 1989 changes in the political system in Poland resulted not only in thorough reshaping of political and economic structure of the state, but also in a range of identity processes at both regional and country level. Memory, freed from the burden of communism, demanded concepts such as identity and heritage is defined again. It was necessary to verify myths and half-told truths, to articulate issues that had so far been silenced, hidden or even erased from the public space and discourse. In this context, the so-called ‘recovered territories’, namely the regions which became part of Poland after the Second World War, seem particularly interesting. The article focuses on both purposeful and accidental, grassroots and institutional actions which illustrate broadly understood processes of ‘restoring remembrance’ in Lower Silesia (Niederschlesien before 1945). The subject of the analysis, however, is not only the process itself but primarily its tourism context. The paper is trying to determine whether and how such actions influence tourist space and phenomena in the region. The methods used were case study, observation, and desk research.