This research follows the case of Boleslawiec pottery made in Poland,
also known as the Bunzlau ceramic, that originated in Germany. Behind
its double existence are war, mass violence, and displacement.
At the end of World War II, German Schlesien was transferred to Poland
and became Silesia. German properties were expropriated to become a
basis for the new Polish economy. This included the trade of
pottery-making. At the same time, German ceramists were expelled from
the region and resettled in West Germany, carrying the know-how with
them, and some renewed the making of it in exile.
In the genre of social biography of things, the research of Olga and
Vanessa reconstructs the schism of the craft, examines identity claims
associated with it, and seeks to uncover contested moments in these
biographies in order to understand the denialist and exclusionary
politics that developed on both, Polish and German sides.