THEMES IN THIS TESTIMONY
Culture and Customs  
History  
Identity  
Resettlement  

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Irmgard

(POLAND 41)

Sex

female

Age

66

Occupation

baker

Location

P

Date

P

summary

detailed breakdown

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Section 1  Some family history and detail. Remembers how “cruel” the Czech soldiers were at the end of the war, but they were soon supplanted by kinder Polish soldiers. Describes life in the village before the war.
Section 2  Her brothers and sisters also married Poles. Her parents were had no problem with this, but some of the Germans who stayed on “were very disappointed”. Talks briefly about the relationships between the original inhabitants and the Polish settlers: “me and my family accepted the situation as it was, we had not other choice. We tried to keep good relationship with the Polish”.
Section 3  Although some people hid their German identity, she raised her children to be proud of her origins. They were occasionally called names but coped well. She maintains Polish and German traditions at Christmas time.
Section 4  In 1974, they moved to Bystrzyca. She says that the land was used differently by the Germans: “every little piece of land was used”.Then, all the little farms got liquidated” and the rural areas depopulated.
Section 5-7  Feels from her visits to Germany that “everyone lives on one’s own”, and that the Poles are “more friendly and more sociable”. She’s interested in Polish history and literature. Stresses that her “place is here” and she feels at “home” in the area. Ends the interview saying that “my nationality is German, but I am a citizen of Poland, and this is my motherland, my place on earth”.