{"id":31804,"date":"2026-06-23T09:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T09:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/?post_type=wydarzenia&p=31804"},"modified":"2026-07-02T13:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T13:02:30","slug":"international-workshop-on-difficult-heritage-at-the-mck","status":"publish","type":"wydarzenia","link":"https:\/\/mck.krakow.pl\/en\/wydarzenia\/international-workshop-on-difficult-heritage-at-the-mck\/","title":{"rendered":"International workshop on difficult heritage at the MCK"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The workshop, curated by Dr \u017banna Komar (MCK) and Dr Annika Wiennert (NIH), entitled \u2018Nazi City Planning, Architecture and its Visual Representations in German-occupied Poland and Other Countries of Central Europe\u2019, represents the next stage in research into the difficult legacy of the Third Reich \u2014 an attempt to understand how architecture and urban planning were used to shape a new reality in the occupied territories, and how we can today responsibly address the traces of violence inscribed in the built environment. Experts from several European countries will discuss at the ICC how photographs, maps and images created during the German occupation in the World War II supported and actively participated in the Germanisation of subjugated cities, and how such materials should be interpreted today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discussion will feature researchers from Austria, Lithuania, Germany, France and Poland, who will once again come together to address the challenging and extremely fascinating issue of this unwanted heritage. The aim of the meeting is to take a critical look at visual materials produced during the Nazi occupation, particularly those relating to architecture and urban planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key topics of the seminar on Nazi urban planning and architecture at the MCK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Researchers will examine collections of visual material produced by Nazi officials. They will subject seemingly neutral examples of iconography to critical analysis and will also look at the role of local photographers and architects who participated in their creation. They will also discuss how the German occupiers exploited these individuals\u2019 labour, skills and knowledge. The discussion will further address how to utilise the visual materials in question in academic research and museum exhibitions. A key element of the discussion will be a comparison of the legacy of the Third Reich across different countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This interdisciplinary workshop on visual media as sources for research into the German occupation is intended to encourage such research, reflection and the production of publications on the subject. This is not only an opportunity for dialogue and integration between academic and cultural circles in Poland, Germany and other countries, but also a chance to fill in the gaps in our knowledge, which, due to its controversial nature, remains a field that has not yet been fully explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building new knowledge and reflecting on memory <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The June event at the MCK will be the fourth instalment of a series of workshops on the urban heritage of the Third Reich in the territories it occupied during the World War II. For several years now, a network of Polish and German research institutions has been active, participating in meetings on architecture and urban planning in the territories of Europe occupied by the Third Reich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series was initiated by a group of researchers specialising in architecture and history; the first event took place in May 2024 in Turek, and its theme was \u2018Sources (Un)Recognised. New Research on Urbanism and Architecture of the ‘Third Reich\u2018 in Occupied Poland\u2019. The organisers were the Nordost-Institut L\u00fcneburg, the University of Kalisz and the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of Fine Arts in Pozna\u0144 (UAP). The second meeting took place in December 2024 in Pozna\u0144, where workshops were organised around an exhibition presented at the Zamek Culture Centre in Pozna\u0144 entitled \u2018Exhibiting Nazi Architecture\u2019. The event was organised by the Nordost-Institut L\u00fcneburg, NIH and UAP. The third instalment of the event took place in L\u00fcneburg, under the title \u2018Contact \u2013 Demarcation \u2013 Imaginations. Spatial Practices in the Occupied City under National Socialism\u2019 (October 2025). It was co-organised by the Nordost-Institut L\u00fcneburg and the Faculty of Architecture at Pozna\u0144 University of Technology, with financial support from the Polish-German Foundation for Science (PNFN).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ICC\u2019s research into the legacy of the Third Reich<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The architectural and urban legacy of the Third Reich on Polish soil has also been one of the International Cultural Centre\u2019s areas of research for many years. As early as 1994, Professor Piotr Krakowski raised the question of whether one should engage with and write about Nazi art at all in a book published jointly by IRSA Publishing and the ICC Publishing House entitled ‘The Art of the Third Reich’. Research into Nazi visions of Krak\u00f3w and its problematic legacy was conducted by Professor Jacek Purchla, who, amongst other things, wrote about Hubert Ritter \u2013 the man behind the idea of building a prestigious German government district in D\u0119bniki. In 2018, the ICC organised a conference entitled \u2018The Dissonant Heritage of the Third Reich in Poland\u2019, during which German and Polish researchers discussed contemporary attitudes towards this unwanted legacy and its interpretation. The conference culminated in the publication of a book under the same title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, the ICC Gallery hosted the exhibition \u2018Unwanted capital. Architecture and urban planning in Krakow during the German occupation of 1939\u20131945\u2019 (5 March \u2013 12 June 2022), which sought to examine the experiment to which Krak\u00f3w was subjected. For 1961 days, the city was the capital of the General Government, and its urban fabric was to undergo a series of changes to become a wholly German city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exhibition \u2013 accompanied by a comprehensive catalogue \u2013 was curated by Prof. Jacek Purchla, Dr \u017banna Komar and Dr Monika Rydiger, provided an opportunity to reflect on contemporary attitudes towards the urban heritage left behind by the Third Reich, which has become an integral \u2013 though often invisible to residents \u2013 part of Krak\u00f3w\u2019s landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Programme available for download <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produced with financial support from the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation\/<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Realisiert mit finanzieller Unterst\u00fctzung der Stiftung f\u00fcr Deutsch-Polnische Zusammenarbeit.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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