Unsettled: Movable Monuments at the Cusp of German and Polish Heritage

Using methods stemming from anthropology and performance studies, this article focuses on the objects that remained in the official spaces of the so-called Recovered Territories – formerly German areas incorporated into Poland after World War II – even as population transfers changed the character of the region. By discovering and analyzing both presence and use of the German objects in Polish public institutions, the article zooms in on the liminal points of contact between the two legacies: pre- and post-1945. It is an experimental attempt to depart from the language of ownership and in turn to allow these objects to speak via movements and gestures they bring about.