Wysiedlenie Niemców jako element szkolnej edukacji historycznej w latach 1956-2006
The relocation of Germans as an element in the teaching of history in schools in the years 1956–2006

Summary/Abstract: The subject of the article, which is based on three school textbooks for the teaching of modern history during the period 1956–2006, is an analysis of history teaching in schools as it pertains to the forming of a picture of the compulsory relocation of Germans in Poland. Changes which the field under study has undergone are discussed in terms of both the choice of historical facts and of their interpretation. In text books from the period of the People’s Republic of Poland, the compulsory relocation of the Germans receives mention merely as a sideline to the issues of the changes to Poland’s western borders. The shifting of Poland to the West, however, is interpreted as the returning to Poland of the “old land of the Piast dynasty”. The rhetoric of the concept of the “Regained Territories” disappeared from school text books only after 1999. The 90’s brought change to the presentation of the relocation. From 1999, the prevalence of a variety of curricula, and thus of the text books, brings a departure from the unity of presentation of the relocation issue and the same differentiation in the teaching of the contents. A common feature of both gymnasium and post-gymnasium school text books is the discussion of the issues of the relocation of the Germans within the broad perspective of compulsory migration in the 20 century. A substantial change in the presentation of the discussion of the issues in relation to the period of the People’s Republic of Poland is also the increasingly widespread recording of the wrongs sustained by the German civilian population during the displacement operation. The changes in this sphere are the result not only of the ‘reclamation’ of areas of popular memory which until now have been pushed into the shadows, but also the introduction of binding contemporary moral norms and international law in evaluating the events of more than sixty years ago.

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