Przypadek miasta „pomiędzy”: architektura i urbanistyka Opola w pierwszych latach powojennych

The end of the Second World War and subsequent change of European borders were important demarcation lines in the history of many cities. That was also the case of Opole – a city that had been a part of Germany until 1945, became incorporated into Poland, co-creating so-called „Recovered Territories”. New Polish authorities had to rebuilt the city destroyed by war’s aftermath, discover and understand it, as well as create new narratives about Opole as an indigenously Polish city, brought back to its „Motherland” after Second World War. The city’s post-war identity was to be based on changed interpretations of preexisting heritage (such as architecture) as well as certain events in Opole’s post-war history. The aim of those actions was to create a brand new identity, alligned with the politics and propaganda of that period, and to foster the proccess of acclimating new inhabitants with the city. The issues relating to Opole’s post-war architectural and urban development have not yet been researched by art and architecture historians. The aim of the chapter called The case of a city „in-between”: architecture and urban planning during first postwar years is to fill this gap by presenting on a group of examples the issue of Opole’s development in the first five years after the end of Second World War (1945-1950) as a byproduct of tensions and tractions occuring between antagonistic pursuits, ideas and attitudes. Among those aformentioned binaries, which affected the city’s image and development, are: Wrocław and Katowice; Lower and Upper Silesia; big and small city; Polishness and Germanness; interruption and continuation; negation and acceptance. Tensions rising between those oppositions, which can be seen in Opole’s post-war history, turned Opole into a curious case of a city „in-between”.