Whose Monuments? German Traces in Poland’s Western Territories

Altered, reinterpreted or left to decay: after 1945, German monuments met very different fates in the territories that became part of western Poland. How did local communities respond to these remnants of the past? What fitted in with a new beginning, what remained unfamiliar, and what changed over time?

In his photographic project “Denkmalforschung” (Monument Research), Wojtek Sienkiewicz explores monuments in the villages of Lower Silesia. In conversation with cultural scholar Karolina Ćwiek-Rogalska, he examines how local initiatives, political directives and everyday decisions interact. The monuments tell stories of appropriation and neglect, of the politics of memory and an approach to German heritage that remains full of contradictions today.