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Ratingen houses the archives of Landsmannschaft der Oberschlesier and Stiftung Haus Oberschlesien, which store comprehensive documents connected with the history, culture and displacements of Germans from Upper Silesia. Between 10 and 13 June, Dr Renata Kobylarz-Buła was conducting a query in these Ratingen-based institutions.

Her work in the archive of the Haus Oberschlesien Foundation has yielded some most interesting effects. The collections of this archive include accounts of witnesses, questionnaires and correspondence gathered by Herman Aschman and Heinz Esser – former prisoners of the Labour Camp in Łambinowice. The documents, mostly modest in form, create an interesting collection of testimonies dealing with not only Łambinowice but also other postwar camps located in, among others Świętochłowice-Zgoda, Jaworzno or Mysłowice. It is from similar individual voices, records or memoirs that a broader picture of experience of people embroiled in dramatic developments of the 20^th century emerges. This can be of most valuable help in carrying out work on preparation of a new permanent exhibition devoted to the Labour Camp in Łambinowice.

During her stay in Ratingen, our colleague also paid a visit to Oberschlesisches Landesmuseum. The exhibition presented there leads visitors through the history of Upper Silesia – from the oldest to contemporary times – not avoiding difficult themes: the Plebiscites, wars, displacements and postwar transformations. A particular place is given to reflections over societal memory.