Historical Research on residents and forced migrants in Central and Eastern Europe after World War II: Focusing on Silesia

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22025
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0103:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Shumei University
• Principal Investigator: Kinugasa Taro 秀明大学, 学校教師学部, 助教 (40888012)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: ドイツ人の追放 / 中東欧 / ドイツ / ポーランド / 境界地域 / 現代史 / 人の移動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study attempts to reconsider Silesian history from the end of World War II to the mid-1970s based on the "Unfinished War" thesis, which has been divided into German history or national history of Eastern European states.
The research was conducted in the situation in which no field work could be done in Germany, Poland and Ukraine, due to the pandemic of Covid-19 in 2020 and the Russian invasion to Ukraine in 2021. Under these circumstances, we were able to make a certain progress by focusing on the analysis of historical materials that we had already obtained in Europe. In particular, we made some progress in analyzing the historical background of forced migrations in Silesia in the late 1940s.

Free Research Field

ヨーロッパ近現代史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

2022年2月以来、ウクライナではロシアによる軍事侵攻を受けて大量の避難民や強制移住者が発生している。極めて悲惨な状況が発生しているとはいえ、こうした事態は中東欧においては歴史的に見て珍しいものではなかった。本研究は、そうした現代的でもあるテーマを、シュレージエンというドイツと中東欧の境界地域に位置していた地域の事例から歴史的に再検討することで、当時の実像を明らかにするとともに、現代の避難民・強制移住問題にも新たな視座や知見を与えるものである。