Elbing vs. Elbląg From contested land to decolonial representations
Elbing vs. Elbląg From contested land to decolonial representations

Summary/Abstract: Territorial shifts after World War II entailed critical demographic changes: Germans were expelled from Elbing; Poles from the eastern territories were supposed to take their place in Elbląg. Personal and national narratives had to be created fromscratch. The article explores different forms of texts and maps – memoirs, touristguides, literature, and an exhibition – to scrutinise different city and neighbourhoodnarratives from German and Polish standpoints. Besides analysing the centralmotifs and narrative strategies that rely on an urban visualisation of memory, itrejects the popular notion of a palimpsest in favour of a decolonial perspective onurban space. Proposing a way to imagine a city beyond nation-based concepts can stimulate reconsidering hierarchic city structures.

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