Worlds of Maps – Worlds of Texts

Cartographic and Written Discourses on the Reconstruction of East Central European Cities
After political independence came Nazi occupation and then communism: the cities of East Central Europe were affected by numerous upheavals and caesuras in the middle of the 20th century. War and destruction, changing administrations, the subsequent reconstruction and new, ideologically shaped urban planning concepts are reflected not only in the cityscape, but also in maps, plans and other written sources. But how are these developments presented here? How are they classified and evaluated?
Geographical knowledge and the appropriation of space always combine historical, social, political and economic aspects. This project aims not only to investigate the production, distribution and reception of city maps and accompanying texts, but also to explore how maps shape the perception of cities and their "character".
The project analyzes six cities (
Brzeg
deu. Brieg

Brzeg is a city of 36,000 people in the Polish Opole Voivodeship. It is located in southwestern Poland on the Odra River. Brzeg is located between Wroclaw and Opole. The city was part of the German Empire until 1945.

Kołobrzeg
deu. Kolberg

Kolobrzeg is a city on the Polish Baltic coast in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship (Polish: Zachodniopomorskie). About 46,000 people reside in the city. It is located in the northwest of the country and is an important place for tourism, port and fishing industry. The city is located about 145 km northeast of Szczecin.

Elbląg
deu. Elbing, pol. Elbiag, lat. Elbinga, lat. Elbingum, lat. Elbingus

The city of Elbląg (historically Elbing; population in 2023: 112,923) is located in the northern Polish Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, just a few kilometers south of the Vistula Lagoon and around 50 kilometers southeast of Gdansk. In the Middle Ages, Elbląg was one of the leading Hanseatic cities and one of the headquarters of the Teutonic Order. Its importance as one of the leading ports on Baltic Sea was lost in the 15th century, partly due to silting.
In the early modern period, Elbing was predominantly under Polish sovereignty as part of the so-called "Royal Prussia" oder "Polish Prussia". As a result of the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the city came to the newly founded Prussian province of West Prussia, in 1945 to the then People's Republic of Poland.

Drogobič
rus. Drogobyč, pol. Drohobycz, ukr. Drohobytsch, ukr. Дрогобич, ukr. Drohobych, yid. דראהביטש, rus. Дрогобыч, yid. Drohobjtš

Drohobych is a city (population 2021: 73,682) in the far west of Ukraine, in the Lviv oblast. Lviv (Lviv) lies to the north of Drohobych. The city belonged to the Kingdom of Poland for several centuries and was once an important place for Judaism in Galicia. In the interwar period, Drohobycz was the center of the Polish oil industry which was one of the leading oil producers in Europe in the 1920s.

Grodno
bel. Гродна, yid. Grodne, lit. Gardinas, deu. Grodno, yid. גראָדנע, rus. Гродно, rus. Grodno

Hrodna is a large city in the west of Belarus. It is inhabited by 370,000 people and is located directly on the border with Poland. It is on the Memel River and is considered the administrative seat of the Woblasz Hrodna. Since 1991 the city belongs to Belarus and is still characterized by a large Polish-speaking minority. Before the Second World War, many Poles and Jews lived in the city.

Brest
pol. Brześć, lit. Brestas, bel. Брэст, pol. Brześć nad Bugiem, bel. Берасьце, eng. Brest-Litovsk, eng. Brest-on-the-Bug, pol. Brześć Litewski

Brest is a large city in the southwest of Belarus. The city is located directly on the border with Poland on the river Bug. The city belonged to Poland for a long time and nowadays it is the capital of Brest Voblasts.

) that underwent massive political, administrative, ethnic and structural changes in the period 1939-1953 and analyzes them according to four guiding questions:
  1. What is the relationship between discourses on the reconstruction and development of cities in cartographic sources on the one hand and in textual sources on the other?
  2. Which actors (map authors and text authors) shape these discourses, and which approaches succeed?
  3. How did the relationship between the National Socialist urban reconstruction and rebuilding projects from 1941 on and the socialist city administration after 1945 develop? How did this change and influence the objectives of reconstruction and the local appropriation of historic buildings and structures?
  4. In what way did the actors argue about what was to be considered a “loss” or a “gain” or even as “progress” with regard to the effects of the Second World War?
The interdisciplinary approach brings together maps (maps and map drafts for planning, status surveys, internal and published city plans) and text material of different kinds (travel guides, university and school textbooks and so-called grey literature such as jubilee publications and city chronicles).
Besides the analysis of the rhetoric of gain and loss in the face of war destruction, the interplay between socialist maxims and the country-specific (
Poland
deu. Polen, eng. Republic of Poland, pol. Polska, lit. Lenkijos Respublika, bel. Polʹŝa, bel. Polʹšča, bel. Польшча, . Pòlskô, yid. republyq pyn pojln, yid. republyk pyn pojln, yid. rʿpublyq pyn pojln, yid. pojln, yid. רעפובליק פון פוילן, yid. polin, yid. פוילן

Poland is located on the Baltic Sea and is the largest state (population in 2023: 37,636,508, area: 313,964 km²) in East Central Europe. The name of the state is derived from the West Slavic Polans, who brought more and more territories under their rule from the 9th century onwards, which were known as Duchy of Poland in the 10th century. Under Mieszko (ca. 960-992), the extent of the country reached approximately its current borders. He was at times subject to tribute to the German Emperor, at least for parts of his land. Poland probably adopted Christianity in 966 and from 1025 it was a kingdom. Between 1138 and 1295, the country was fragmented as a result of inheritance disputes. The extinction of the ruling Piast dynasty led to a Polish-Hungarian personal union in 1370, which was replaced by a Polish-Lithuanian dual monarchy as early as 1386 due to pressure from the Polish nobility. The growing role of the nobility resulted in an elective monarchy in 1572. However, the disunity of the nobility led to the three partitions of Poland (1772-1795) between Prussia, Russia and the Habsburg Monarchy. Poland only became independent after the end of the First World War in 1918 and lost its independence in 1939 after the German attack from the west at the beginning of the Second World War and the Russian invasion from the east. From 1945-1989 it was a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Poland has been a member of the European Union since 2004.

Belarus
bel. Belarus', rus. Белоруссия, deu. Belarus, deu. Weißrussland, bel. Беларусь, deu. Bjelorußland

Belarus (population in 2024: 9,109,280) is a country in Eastern Europe that was part of the Soviet Union until 1991. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Belarus borders Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia.

Ukraine
ukr. Ukrajina, deu. Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. Kiev is the capital and largest city of the country, which has been independent since 1991. Since 2022, the country has been defending itself against a comprehensive Russian invasion, which is directed in particular against the civilian population and the country's critical infrastructure and is part of a war against Ukraine that has been ongoing since 2014 and originated from the Russian Federation with the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014.

) interpretations of urban development is to be scrutinized: How is the reshaping of historical consciousness brought together with national urban space narratives? How, for example, is responsibility for destruction addressed, given that many cities suffered from massive damage after the end of the war due to arson and looting by various groups. How do local actors try to present their own visions of reconstruction (in the face of censorship)?
The project is a sub-project of the research network "UrbanMetaMapping - Mapping and Transforming: An interdisciplinary analysis of city maps as a visual medium of urban transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, 1939–1949." In addition, the Institute for Archaeology, Heritage Conservation Studies and Art History (IADK) at the University of Bamberg, the Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Mannheim (GESIS), the Institute for Research on Society and Space (IRS) and the TU Wien are involved. The joint project is led and coordinated by Dr.-Ing. Carmen M. Enss.