At the end of the Second World War, the Oder-Warthe region became a border area between Germany and Poland. The previously shared history experienced an almost complete reboot due to the radical population exchange east of the Oder. The forcibly migrated population of the former eastern Poland brought their own history, culture and language with them, which created a language barrier in addition to the new physical border.
Cultures of remembrance began to develop separately from one another, characterised by the narratives of the victorious powers, which still exist today. Two fundamentally different ideologies (capitalism / socialism) became entrenched on German soil (FRG/West Berlin and GDR) and almost escalated into the Cold War. The way the Second World War was dealt with in the FRG, the GDR and the People's Republic of Poland in the form of memorials and public holidays, school lessons, war memorials, war cemeteries and museums was also influenced by ideology.
The Oder-Warthe region first had to find its way into this mixed situation and thus wrote a new history. In the course of the Cold War, military, civilian and government bunker facilities were built to protect against nuclear strikes and to coordinate and execute them. Once again, a network of facilities emerged to control the population and secure the communist dictatorship, e.g. youth detention centres and work yards, military prisons and state security sites.
Our 2-day educational tour takes you back to the Cold War era, which was characterised by fear of nuclear strikes, the nuclear arms race, provocation and mistrust. Underground bunkers with former listening and telecommunications stations as well as first and second strike scenarios impressively demonstrate the calculations and madness of the Cold War.
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