In contrast with narratives concerning expellees in Germany or pioneers of the 'Recovered Territories' in Poland, this monograph tells the story of the disintegration of a previous cultural landscape and the establishment of one which was new, in a colourful and vivid manner and encompassing different points of view.

Beata Halicka is Professor of history of Central and Eastern Europe at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. Her book, Poland's Wild West, was published in Polish and German and received the Identities Prize 2016 for the best historical book in Poland. For more on this, please visit: http://beatahalicka.pl/

1. Introduction

1.1 State of research
1.2 Conceptual basis
1.3 Sources and methods

2. The Oder Region and the Polish 'Wild West'

3. 'The most difficult language in the world' - a literary introduction to the subject

4. The Deconstruction of the Oder Region

4.1 'We had no idea about anything that went on in the East'
4.2 'The Master Race' and Polish forced labourers in the Oder Region
4.3 The flight of Germans as seen through the eyes of Polish forced labourers
4.4 'When the Russians arrived ...'

5. Dealing with Obstacles

5.1 The Oder Region's Road to the new Polish state
5.2 Soviet headquarters and the first Polish settlers
5.3 'Treat the Germans as they treated us'

6. Poland on the Move - the Migration of People

6.1 The so-called repatriation of Poles from the East - in cattle cars to the bosom of the nation?
6.2 Internal resettlement - in search of better living conditions
6.3 From forced labour to the 'Recovered Territories'

7. Arrival in the Oder Region

7.1 In a strange, desolate world
7.2 Any old roof over one's head at the beginning or a hunt for the most beautiful home?
7.3 A period of transition - Germans and Poles living together

8. A successful takeover? A typology of the New Settlers

8.1 Victims of war sitting on suitcases and tired of life
8.2 Looters - the post-war migration of people on business?
8.3 Zealous pioneers of the 'Recovered Territories'

9. The Appropriation of One's Space

9.1 The post-war clean-up
9.2 New schools, institutions, associations - society organises itself
9.3 Religious life and the appropriation of German churches
9.4 The beginnings of agriculture and the consequences of incomplete agricultural reforms
9.5 The pioneering spirit of small businesspeople and government mismanagement
9.6 The German labour force and the resettlement of the Germans
9.7 The new balance of power and the 1946 referendum - what did people really vote for?

10. A New Society - A Cultural and Ethnic Mix

10.1 Poznanians, Poles from central Poland and the eastern borderlands, indigenous inhabitants, Jews, Ukrainians, Germans, Gypsies, Greeks, repatriates from Western and Southern Europe, as well as late expellees from the Soviet Union
10.2 The loss of cultural diversity and the concept of an ethnically homogenous state
10.3 The building of a new society - a short summary

11. The Myth of the 'Polish Wild West' a Decade Later

Outline of Primary and Secondary Sources
Index