“Emigrants” in Tschicherzig/Cigacice before their departure to Hamburg. Re-enactment in 2008.

      These particular historical representations were unusual, in that although the popularity of re-enactments has increased in Poland, they are mostly of battles and national uprisings (including e.g. the Battle of Tannenberg 1410 and the fighting during the Warsaw Uprising 1944). In contrast, the performances in Klępsk were not concerned with Polish history, but with the history of the Germans who once lived here. A combination of visits by the descendants of the Australian migrants, exhibitions, and conferences on the theme involving Poles and German Australians have all contributed to making this episode of regional history really familiar to today’s residents of the Oder region. The events of over 170 years ago and the people of that time are closely linked to the present-day story of these three nations.

      Dr. Anitta Maksymowicz, is a research assistant at the Museum of the Lubusz Province (Muzeum Ziemi Lubuskiej) in Zielona Góra. The main topic of her research is Polish and German overseas migrations in the 19th and 20th centuries with particular regard to the USA and Australia, along with Polish-American relief campaigns for Poland during the First and Second World Wars. Her book Emigracja zpogranicza Brandenburgii, Śląska i Wielkopolski do Australii Południowej w latach 1838-1914 [“Emigration from the Border Region Between Brandenburg, Silesia, and Greater Poland to South Australia from 1838–1914”] was published in Zielona Góra in 2011. She is also the author of numerous articles in the sphere of museum studies and regional cultural heritage. This article is based on a lecture given by Anitta Maksymowicz in November 2011 at a conference entitled “Let’s go overseas. German Emigration from Eastern Europe.”