Members of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany were supposed to honor the expelled Germans from Schönwald, today the Gliwice district of Bojków, and present the district as a model example of Polish-German cooperation. The main part of the visit was meant to be a meeting with students of the local Primary School No. 8. However, due to public pressure from the Gliwice branch of the Gazeta Polska Club and our publications on the matter, the plan was abandoned. The German guests quietly and without ceremony laid flowers at the monument commemorating the victims of the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, its subcamps, and the Death March that passed through Bojków. The visit was heavily secured by numerous police officers.
Originally, the visit of the North Rhine-Westphalia parliamentarians was intended to have a highly ceremonial character. The goal was to commemorate the expulsion of Germans from Schönwald, now Bojków, a district of Gliwice, and to showcase it as a model example of Polish-German cooperation.
“Together We Pass the Test of Shared History”
Sebastian Wladarz, chairman of the Board of the Upper Silesian House Foundation in Ratingen, Germany, and the organizer of the meeting, described the visit in a statement published on the official website of the city of Gliwice:
“Polish-German cooperation in favor of reconciliation in Bojków has a long tradition, and the visit of the MPs is one of its results. Let us recall the German co-financing of the gravestones of the Westerplatte defenders, the concert Pro Unitate Europae as part of Bojków’s 775th anniversary celebrations, or the joint ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, during which a wreath was laid on behalf of the Minister for European Affairs of North Rhine–Westphalia. The latest joint project was the monument for the victims of the Death March, financed by the German side. (…) Nevertheless, it must be emphasized that the foundation of reconciliation and friendship lies in historical truth and sincerity. We thank our partners in Bojków for this sincerity. We are on a good path to continue discovering our shared history, including the difficult aspects that still require discussion so that we can draw lessons for the future. The quiet laying of flowers in memory of the expelled Germans – just a few minutes of a four-day visit – is therefore not a provocation, but a positive signal that, 60 years after the letter from Polish bishops to their German brothers, we are together passing the test of shared history and reconciliation. We thank Gliwice for being a city with no place for hatred. Let us remember our shared history and look to the future!”
Meeting with Students Canceled
The residents of Schönwald, yesterday Bojków, a district of Gliwic, voted almost unanimously (99%) for belonging to Germany during the Silesian Uprisings and the plebiscite. The central event of the German visit was supposed to be a meeting with students of Primary School No. 8 in Bojków. It is not surprising that portraying Germans as victims of World War II outraged many Gliwice residents. It was also reported on this issue in early October.
School principal Grzegorz Klyszcz told Niezalezna.pl that the meeting with the youth had been canceled, although three weeks earlier he had seen nothing improper in organizing it. The meeting was to take place in a public school under the authority of the city of Gliwice. Gliwice’s mayor, Katarzyna Kuczyńska-Budka of the Civic Platform party, privately the wife of Borys Budka, a Member of the European Parliament from the same party, did not meet with the German delegation herself. Wioleta Niziołek-Żądło, acting director of the Department of Promotion and Social Communication at the Gliwice City Hall, emphasized in our conversation that the city had not organized the meeting, nor had it been a co-organizer of the visit.
German Guests Quietly Laid Flowers Without Ceremony
The flower-laying took place at the monument commemorating the victims of the KL Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, its subcamps, and the Death March that passed through Bojków.
“The event was kept very secret; neither I nor anyone I spoke to could determine the exact program,” said Olaf Pest, a councilor of Gliwice’s City Council from the Law and Justice (PiS) party, in opposition to Mayor Kuczyńska-Budka, and a member of the Gazeta Polska Club in Gliwice.
“The organizers got scared of the uproar that developed around the matter. I received signals that residents wanted to protest and organize a demonstration by patriotic groups. When the German delegation was in Bojków, the presence of a massive number of police officers protecting the guests was striking. There were three unmarked police cars with plainclothes officers, two large police vans, and one smaller one with uniformed officers. The vehicles remained on site at all times due to fear of public opposition. It’s no wonder residents disliked the visit – Bojków is inhabited largely by descendants of Poles from the Eastern Borderlands (Kresy), who settled here after World War II when the Russians expelled the German population. It should be added that Poles had no influence whatsoever over the decisions made by the USSR.”