Danzig – Gdańsk: the complex relation of the German refugees with their “lost homeland” after 1945

Abstract

Millions of Germans who had been expelled from their homeland at the end of World War II established a distinct relationship with those territories. Most of them were aware of the impossible return because of the new geopolitical situation, so they settled for trips to the former homeland. That fed their nostalgia and served to corroborate or dispel the mythicized idea they had created. The memories of the refugees are usually an idealized image, which dismisses how circumstances worsened since 1933, as if nothing had altered their peaceful routine until the final defeat in 1945. The writer Günter Grass, originally from Danzig and a refugee himself, does not show any sign of this decontextualization. In his work, he repeatedly addresses this issue, which is so decisive for millions of his compatriots. Particularly after 1990 and the changes inherent to the end of the Cold War, Grass deals with this topic in a more explicit way. For example, in his novel The Call of the Toad, he proposes ironically the right of every European to be buried in the homeland from which they were expelled. Precisely, German cemeteries in Poland are strong proof of the existence of different people in that place in a different time. Cemeteries also represent a bridge for refugees and their descendants to the land that remains in their memory.