The Pillars of an Imagined Tradition

This chapter discusses how historians like Karol Maleczynski probably has a greater impact on Wroclaw's postwar history than all of the city's mayors prior to 1989 taken together. It was their writings, both popular and scholarly, that shaped the perception of Wroclaw as the “age-old Polish” city. Not least due to Maleczynski's efforts, it was only a few years before studies of local Wroclaw history appeared in a scope that eclipsed everything that had been produced in the previous centuries. But the residents of Wroclaw were not interested in learning everything about their city's past. They wanted to know what was Polish about it, what justified their presence in Wroclaw, and what might kindle the hope within them that one day they would feel at home in this place.