Gotyk w służbie oficjalnej narracji o Ziemiach Zachodnich? Przewodnik po zabytkach Wrocławia z informatorem w kontekście architektonicznych uwarunkowań Wrocławia w latach 40. XX w.
Gothic in the service of official narrative on Western Territories? "Przewodnik po zabytkach Wrocławia z informatorem" [Guidebook to the monuments of Wrocław] in the context of architectural conditions of Wrocław in the 1940s

Summary/Abstract: Familiarizing with the landscape of Western and Northern Territories is a topic widely discussed in the Polish historiography, and this article is introducing to those studies a perspective of another type of historical sources, i.e., city guidebooks. This research is applying interdisciplinary methodology linking the standard historical approach with the history of architecture and art. The paper focuses on presenting the persuasive measures that St[anislaw] Sevatt was using in his Wroclaw city guidebook from 1948, one of the first publications of this type after World War II and the consecutive border shifts. The authors propose a threefold categorization of the landscape familiarizing: 1) stressing the similarities between the architecture of Wroclaw and other Polish cities; 2) searching for any trails of activity or presence of Poles in the city to prove its immemorially Polish character; 3) critique of the alterations in the old city’s architectural structure made by Germans in the 19th and 20th century. Each postulated category is exemplified with quotes from Sevatt’s guidebook. The article also rectifies the inaccuracies and misinterpretations committed by the author of the city guidebook. The authors elucidate the issues encountered by the Poles arriving in Wrocław after 1945, primarily the appearance of the city very much different from the typically Polish urban landscape. It is an important factor to understand thoroughly the efforts of Sevatt to Polonize the city, its history and architecture (in this case – gothic churches play an essential role). Moreover, this perspective allows for placing Sevatt’s city guidebook in the wider context of the postwar narrative aiming to familiarize the Poles with the Western and Northern Territories.

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