Arrested conflict: transnational place-making in Polish-German border towns

Abstract

This paper studies the role of cross-border interactions and public spaces in the local mediation of national conflicts in three Polish-German border towns. It draws on Luc Boltanski's pragmatic sociology in order to address questions raised in the recent literature on urban conflict and borders. Our analysis traces transformations under Schengen in relation to Boltanski's concepts of uncertainty, justification and tests. We investigate ordinary inhabitants' everyday experiences through different place-making strategies in the context of a shifting border. Recent transformations challenge a longstanding situation of “arrested conflict” rooted in blocked local networks, disconnected from supranational discourses of cooperation.

Keywords:

• Urban conflict
• borders
• transnationalism
• politics of heritage
• pragmatic sociology

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Andrzej Bukowski, Liam O’Dowd, Konstantin Kastrissianakis and Claudia Sternberg for their valuable input; Matthias Schumann for the photos; Lefkos Kyriacou for the maps; and Victor Gwiazda for acting as an interpreter and travel companion.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Karol Kurnicki is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute of Sociology in the Jagiellonian University, Kraków and was a visiting scholars at the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research in Cambridge.

Dr Maximilian Sternberg is University Lecturer at the Department of Architecture in the University of Cambridge. He is Deputy Director of the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research and Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Notes

1 Anna Wrobel, Director; Gubin Municipality European Department, 20 September 2012.

2 Anna Dziadek, Information Centre Gubin, 27 March 2013.

3 Anonymous, 19 September 2012; confirmed by Michael Kurzwelly, 25 March 2013.

4 Confirmed in interview with Karola Huhold, Town Planner, Guben municipality, 20 September 2012.

5 Toralf Schiwietz, Managing director of the Euro-region Viadriana in Frankfurt (Oder), 17 September 2012.

6 Anonymous, 17 September 2012.

7 Sören Bollmann, Project manager, Frankfurt-Słubice Municipal Cooperation Centre, 18 September 2012.

8 A resident born after the war from a family formerly residing in the eastern part of Guben, mentioned for the generation living through displacement, memories are simply too painful to share even in the context of the family. Anonymous, employee of tourist office in Guben, 28 June 2011.

9 A third generation resident mentioned that her grandmother finally conceded that her family may actually settle down in Gubin. Civil servant, Frankfurt-Słubice Cooperation Centre, interviewed on 16 September 2012.

10 Sören Bollmann, Project manager, Frankfurt-Słubice Municipal Cooperation Centre, 27 March 2013.

11 Urzula Kondracik, Society of the Friends of Gubin, 19 September 2012.

12 Luise Träger, Meetingpoint Messiaen, 28 March 2013.

13 16 September 2011.

14 25 March 2013.

15 The Silesian and Lusatian museums staged “Life paths into the uncertain: Görlitz-Zgorzelec 1933-2011” and “In the new land among strangers” respectively.

16 Piotr Arcimowicz, Director, Lusatian Museum, 28 March 2013.

17 http://wordpress.themusicpoint.net/ (accessed 20 March 2015).

18 28 March 2013.

19 Luise Träger, 28 March 2013.

20 See: www.stadtkirchegubin.de and www.fara.gubin-guben.eu/index.php (accessed 1 July 2015).

21 Günther Quiel, Chair of the Society for the reconstruction of the city-church, Guben 27 March 2013; Bartłomiej Bartczak, Mayor of Gubin, 20 September 2012.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the British Academy under a small grant round 2011–2012 and the Foundation for Polish Science (SKILLS-Praxis Programme 2014).