Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T09:36:40.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transnational spaces in national places: early activists in Polish–West German relations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Annika Frieberg
Annika Frieberg*
Affiliation:
History, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, USA
*
* Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article investigates a legacy of transnational activism in Polish-West German relations during the 1950s and 1960s, connected to the borderlands/expellee background of several of the early activists who initiated the relations. At a time when the Polish and West German states maintained no official diplomatic relations with each other, the importance of non-state initiatives and dialogue breaking with the antagonistic nationalism of the two world wars grew disproportionately. These individuals’ expellee background, bilingualism, cross-border networks and loosened national identities contributed to their effectiveness in Polish–German relations. Taking exception to the popular conceptions of expellees as necessarily identical with the negative or anti-Polish opinions commonly associated with the expellee organizations, the article also focuses specifically on how certain expellees and former borderlands inhabitants attempted to renegotiate their postwar roles, political stances and even identities by associating themselves with Polish–German relations. They challenged the dualistic and polarizing nature of media discussions about German expellees in politics. In addition, the article and these individuals pose a challenge to international relations/conflict resolution research to look to cross-border communities as key elements in postwar/post-genocide dialogues.

Keywords

Polish–German relationsmediatransnationalnational
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 213 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahonen, Pertti. After the Expulsions: West Germany and Eastern Europe, 1945–1990. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Ahonen, Pertti, Corni, Gustavo, Kochanowski, Jerzy, et al. People on the Move: Forced Population Movements in Europe in the Second World War and its Aftermath. Oxford: Berg, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Berghahn, Volker. Transatlantische Kulturkriege. Shephard Stone, die Ford-Stiftung und der europäische Anti-amerikanismus. Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Bismarck, Klaus. Aufbruch aus Pommern. München: Piper, 1992. Print.Google Scholar
Bismarck, Klaus. “Die Freiheit des Christen zum Halten und Hergeben.” 9 July 1954. Seid fröhlich in Hoffnung. Der sechste Deutsche Evangelische Kirchentag vom 7. bis 11. Juli 1954 in Leipzig, Stuttgart: Kreuz, 1954: 123–25. Print.Google Scholar
Bismarck, Klaus. “Ein evangelischer Christ erfährt Polen.” Ungewöhnliche Normalisierung: Beziehungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zu Polen. Ed. Plum, Werner, Bonn: Neue Gesellschaft, 1984: 133–38. Print.Google Scholar
Bismarck, Ruth-Alice. “‘Hier bin ich geboren …’ Besuch in der pommerschen Heimat – ‘Merkwürdig, dass man einfach lächeln kann'.” Die Zeit 4 Sept. 1964: 36. Print.Google Scholar
Crossland, David. “Museum Row Reopens Old Polish Wounds.” The National 23 Feb. 2009. Web. 8 Mar. 2009.Google Scholar
Czaja, Herbert. Mangel an Solidarität mit den Vertriebenen – Unterwegs zum kleinsten Deutschland. Marginalien zum 50. Jahren Deutschland-Politik. Frankfurt am Main: Knecht, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
“Das Memorandum der acht evangelischen Persönlichkeiten zur Bonner Politik. Wortlaut der Stellungnahme veröffentlicht/Ursprünglich Grundlage für interne Gespräche mit Abgeordneten.” Süddeutsche Zeitung 26 Feb. 1962. Print.Google Scholar
“Die Lage der Vertriebenen und das Verhältnis des deutschen Volkes zu seinen östlichen Nachbarn. Eine evangelische Denkschrift.” 5th ed. Hannover: Verlag des Amtsblattes der Evangelischer Kirche Deutschlands, 1965. Print.Google Scholar
Dönhoff, Marion. Before the Storm. New York: Random, 1990. Print.Google Scholar
Dönhoff, Marion. Kindheit in Ostpreussen. Berlin: Siedler, 1988. Print.Google Scholar
“Ein Memorandum deutscher Katholiken zu den polnisch-deutschen Fragen. Herausgegeben vom Bensberger Kreis.” Mainz: Mathias-Grünewald, 1968. Print.Google Scholar
Friszke, Andrzej. Kóło posłów “,Znak” w Sejmie PRL, 1956–1976. Warsaw: Wydawnicze Sejmowe, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Harpprecht, Klaus. Die Gräfin, Marion Dönhoff. Eine Biographie. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Hodenberg, Christina. Konsens und Krise. Eine Geschichte der westdeutschen Medienöffentlichkeit 1945–1973. Göttingen: Wallstein, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Hughes, Michael L. Shouldering the Burdens of Defeat: West Germany and the Reconstruction of Social Justice. Chapel, Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Iriye, Akira. Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World. Berkeley: U of California P, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Jansen, Karl-Heinz. Die Zeit in der ZEIT: 50 Jahre einer Wochenzeitung. Hamburg: Siedler, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Keck, Margaret E., and Sikkink, Kathryn. Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Koppe, Karlheinz. Dreimal getauft und Mensch geblieben. Berlin: Rohnstock, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Koppe, Karlheinz. Personal interview. Bonn. 23 Feb. 2005; 28 Feb. 2005.Google Scholar
Kuenheim, Haug. Marion Dönhoff. Eine Biographie. Reinbek bei Hamburg: Siedler: Rowohlt, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Lindstrom, Nicole. “Transnational Agendas on Human Trafficking in the Balkans.” Transnational Actors in Central and East European Transitions.“ Ed. Orenstein, Mitchell A., Bloom, Stephen, and Lindstrom, Nicole. Pittsburgh: U of Pittsburgh P, 2008: 38–55. Print.Google Scholar
Lipscher, Winfred. Personal interview 18 May 2005.Google Scholar
Lipscher, Winfred. “Rückkehr in die Heimat?” Feinde werden Freunde. Von der Schwierigkeiten der deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft, Ed. Lipscher, Winfried and Pflüger, Friedbert, Bonn: Bouvier, 1993: 433–52. Print.Google Scholar
Lüttinger, Paul. Integration der Vertriebenen: Eine empirische Analyse ihrer Integation in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Frankfurt: Campus, 1989. Print.Google Scholar
Mandaville, Peter. “Muslim Transnational Identity and State Responses in Europe and the UK after 9/11: Political Community, Ideology and Authority.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 35.3 (2009): 491–506. Print.Google Scholar
, Merkatz, and Joachim, von, eds. Aus Trümmern wurden Fundamente: Vertriebene, Flüchtlinge, Aussiedler: Drei Jahrzehnte Integration. Düsseldorf: Rau, 1979. Print.Google Scholar
Nye, Joseph S., and Keohane, Robert O. “Transnational Relations and World Politics: An Introduction.” In The Transnational Studies Reader, Ed. Khagram, Sanjeev and Levitt, Peggy, New York: Routledge, 2008: 23–35. Print.Google Scholar
Pailer, Wolfgang. Stanislaw Stomma. Nestor der polnisch-deutschen Aussöhnung. Bonn: Bouvier, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Risse-Kappen, Thomas. “Bringing Transnational Relations Back In: Introduction.” Bringing Transnational Relations Back In: Non-state Actors, Domestic Structures and International Institutions Ed. Risse-Kappe, Thomas. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 3–36. Print.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Michael. Vertriebene und “Umsiedlerpolitik”. Munich: Oldenburg, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Schwarzer, Alice. Marion Dönhoff. Ein widerständiges Leben. Cologne: Kiepenheuer, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Shelley, Louise. “Transnational Organized Crime: An Imminent Threat to the Nation-State? (Transcending National Boundaries).” Journal of International Affairs 48.2 (1995): 462–89. Print.Google Scholar
Skibowski, Klaus. Wolken über weitem Land. Eine Familiengeschichte aus Masuren. Munich: Langen Müller, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. “Czy Hitler nie był prusakiem?” Tygodnik Powszechny 27 Sept. 1964. Print.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. “Czy istnieje niebezpieczeństwo niemieckie?” Tygodnik Powszechny 19 Sept. 1962. Print.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. “Dwa nurty.” Tygodnik Powszechny 23 Mar. 1958. Print.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. “Pater Muckermann – ein Vorläufer der Versöhnung in Wilna.” Feinde werden Freunde. Von der Schwierigkeiten der deutsch-polnischen Nachbarschaft. Ed. Lipscher, Winfried. and Pflüger, Friedbert. Bonn: Bouvier, 1993: 130–44. Print.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. Personal interview. 7 Oct. 2004.Google Scholar
Stomma, Stanisław. Pościg za nadzieją. Paris: Dialogue, 1991, Print.Google Scholar
Thapan, Meenakshi, ed. Transnational Migrations the Politics of Identity: Women and Migration in Asia. Vol. 1. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Wolff-Powęska, Anna, ed. Polacy wobec Niemców: z dziejów kultury politycznej Polski, 1945–1989. Poznan: Instytut Zachodni, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Wolff-Powęska, Anna, ed. “Poszukiwanie dróg dialogu. Świeckie elity katolickie wobec Niemiec.” Polacy wobec Niemców. Z dziejów kultury politycznej Polski 1945–1989. Ed. Anna Wolff-PowęskaPoznań: Instytut Zachodni, 1993. 365–94. Print.Google Scholar
Żurek, Robert. Zwischen Versöhnung und Nationalismus. Die Kirchen und die deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen, 1945–1956. Cologne: Böhlau, 2005. Print.Google Scholar