Zeit: Dienstag, 4. 11. 2025, 9.45–11.15 Uhr
Ort: SeR. 5, Institut für Slawistik der Universität Wien (Wo sind wir zu finden?)

Die Vortragssprache ist Englisch, Fragen in der Diskussion sind auch auf Polnisch und Tschechisch möglich.

Zum Vortrag:
Protestant sacred places and objects in post-displacement regions in Poland and the Czech Republic

The baptismal font is meant to be situated in the church, serving during the rite of conversion and cleansing from original sin. However, what happens if it is placed on the balcony of an apartment building and used as an ashtray?

The project assumes that objects and buildings left behind by previous owners act as "ghosts," evoking the past. As part of the ERC StG research project ‘Recycling the German Ghosts’, I view material remnants of displaced German communities in Poland and Czechia as such ghosts. In this sense, they shift between visibility and invisibility, materiality and immateriality. Following Derrida’s hauntology, they transcend time, demand action, and interact with us. I thus treat ghosts as sources of information, revealing insights about both past and present inhabitants.

My research focuses on two border regions affected by a near-total population exchange after 1945. I explore the role of sacred objects and buildings left behind by displaced Protestant German communities after 1945 and how they are remembered today. Examining these objects sheds light on past and present life in post-displacement regions. Key questions include: What happened to these objects? Were they left in place, removed, or repurposed? Do they still serve their original function? How do current residents relate to them? Ultimately, what do these objects reveal about the regions and their inhabitants?

Zur Vortragenden:
Magdalena Bubík, M.A.
Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences
https://ispan.waw.pl/default/en/employee/magdalena-bubik/