Pamięć o Prusach Wschodnich w literaturze niemieckiej i polskiej po 1945 r.
The Memory of East Prussia in German and Polish Literature after 1945

Summary/Abstract: The article describes Aleida Assmann’s concept of memory applied to literature on the theme of East Prussia after 1945. The key issue is the concept of ‘‘memory landscape’’ in the Polish and German literature. There are two different and specific memory frames assigned to this literature in Germany and Poland: ‘‘loss’’ and ‘‘reclaim’’, respectively. In the case of German literature the article deals with authors from the so-called Landsmannschaft Ostpreußen circle, who primarily accentuate the German contribution to the history and culture of East Prussia (e.g. Agnes Riegel). There are also authors (e.g. Johannes Bobrowski, Siegfried Lenz, Manfred Peter Hein) with a different point of view, who regard the loss of East Prussia as a consequence of World War II. In turn authors who write about the Warmia and Mazuria region before 1989 emphasise its Polish roots and their literature is often close to the convention of socialist realism (e.g. Igor Newerly, Eugeniusz Paukszta). Erwin Kruk’s works are an exception. The final part of the essay is dedicated to recent changes of perception concerning the history of East Prussia (Günter Grass’s ‘‘Im Krebsgang’’ and literature of the ‘‘Borussia’’ circle).

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