In my series “German things you didn’t know survived the war and are still in use by Poles” I want to give you a glimpse of an amazing research day I just had so let me take you on the most unexpected journey through artefacts that survived the 1945 border change.
🧵 My high school was built in 1913 and until the end of WWII it was an Oberrealschule for men. Then in 1945 it turned into a Polish school. There’s one room that all those years remained almost unchanged. It is filled with specimens from the animal and botanic world.

Someone here told me they were surprised to see that Lech Wałęsa is still around.
So let me use this weekend's downtime to show you that not only is Wałęsa still around but he's living his best life. In September Lech Wałęsa turned 80 and celebrated with a giant schabowy /fried pork chop/ in place of a birthday cake.

Early 20th century German speakers imagined a vivid, technologically advanced future, with flying vehicles and slick railways. But they didn't imagine that these places would one day be in Poland.
Come fly with me to the future as seen from the past.
First up: Putzig/Puck
🧵 Next up, a place close to my heart - Śnieżka, the highest peak of the Giant Mountains.

If you've been there, you perhaps know it looks somewhat...futuristic now 🙃 but trust me, it's better it never turned into the Schneekoppe of the 1900s imagination.

I've been staring at the communist "Recovered Territories" propaganda posters to get a sense of the visual backdrop of the transition and I've found some veritable gems so here's a small thread I will be updating as I'm keeping watch.

["I'm keeping watch", W. Zakrzewski, 1946] The goal was to justify the Polishness of the newly acquired western and northern territories, which under the Potsdam Conference were granted to🇵🇱. Thus, the emphasis was put on the Piast Dynasty (10th-14th c.)– the first ruling dynasty of Poland.
["We keep watch over the Oder"]

I am part of the 2nd generation born in the so-called "Recovered Territories"– formerly German lands that are now part of Poland.
In the spirit of Lower Silesian pride, I'd like to give you an idea of what it means to live surrounded by traces of a foreign population.
🧵 Of course, most traces of the past are to be found outside, sometimes they simply emerge from underneath the old paint peeling off the walls...

Macron gifted the Pope a book and caused an international scandal. Wanna know how a single book's life can affect intl.relations? Read on.

The Vatican posted a photo of the book,Poles noticed a stamp of the academic reading room in L'viv(then🇵🇱territory),all hell broke loose.
🧵 Czytelnia Akademicka in L'viv was a Polish student scientific society active between 1867 and the beginning of WWII. Speculations ensued whether the book was stolen (and if yes, by whom? Germans? Russians?) and therefore should be returned. Some Poles are really, really upset.