"Recovered – Settled – Demythologised. Places and Peoples of Western and Northern Territories 1945–2020” is an exhibition arranged by Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań in cooperation with "Remembrance and Future" Centre within Western and Northern Territories Network: Musum in Many Places
Its vernissage is to be held on September 21st 2021 at noon simultaneously in five cities: Poznań, Olsztyn, Opole, Wrocław and Szczecin (pl. Solidarności, at Przełomy Cafe)
The exhibition by Małgorzata Bukiel and Prof. Andrzej Sakson consists of photos from the Institute's collections, the majority of whuch were taken in the second half of the 1940s as part of the scientific expeditions to the Western and Northern Territories conducted at that time. They show the areas newly attached to Poland in result of World War II, along with their characteristic phenomena: war devastation, life among ruins and military equipment, human migrations and reconstruction undertaken by them in all dimensions of human life.
The exhibition opens with a story about the mass exchange of population that took place in these areas and which was a consequence of political decisions to change borders; and with a memory of Prof. Zygmunt Wojciechowski, merited for the research on these lands and the founder of the Institute for Western Affairs, whose 120th birthday was in 2020. Next, the viewers have a chance to look at post-war scenes from the lives of cities, towns and villages in the Western and Northern Territories, and then to compare them with later shots of the same places and capture the change that took place in the Opole region, Lower Silesia, Warmia and Masuria, the Lubusz Land and West Pomerania until the 1990s, and then to this day.
The exhibition is another presentation carried out within the Western and Northern Territories Network. In addition to three permanent exhibitions (at the Zajezdnia History Centre in Wrocław, the Dialogue Centre Upheavals in Szczecin and the newly-opened exhibition of the Regional Chamber of Remembrance in Kąty Wrocławskie), the institutions associated within the Network have prepared numerous temporary exhibitions so far, however, only now will you be able to see the same exhibition for the first time simultanously in five cities that are the seats of institutions associated in the Network. It is therefore a kind of materialisation of the idea of "Museum in Many Places".
The Western and Northern Teritories Network is: The Silesian Institute in Opole, Zygmunt Wojciechowski Institute for Western Affairs in Poznań, The National Museum in Szczecin – The Dialogue Centre Upheavals, Wojciech Kętrzyński Northern Institute in Olsztyn and "Remembrance and Future" Centre in Wrocław. The programme has been carried out with the financial resources and under the auspicies of The Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport of The Republic of Poland.
The Network official website: Sieci Ziem Zachodnich i Północnych