Gegenwart und Zukunft der älteren deutschen Literatur in der polnischen Germanistik

The German literary heritage from the period between Middle Ages and Modern Times (8th-17th cc.) has an unquestionably high status in German Studies in the German-speaking countries. Hence, German Medieval Studies are widely acknowledged as an indisputably vital research domain. Austrian, German and Swiss academic institutions recognize German Medieval Studies as one of the three main autonomous components in German Studies – the other two being modern German Literature and Linguistics. This division is also mirrored in the academic curricula and the regulations concerning the scope of academic examinations. German Medieval Studies have a completely different status in countries other than the above, including Poland. In Poland, there can be no mention of institutional equality between the three components listed above. As can be inferred from the changes affecting the majority of programmes offered by the Institutes of German all around Poland, academic curricula seem to increasingly marginalize the early German literary legacy. The knowledge about the Medieval, Modern or Baroque texts is presented mostly, and sometimes exclusively, through curricular lectures. In some academic programmes, literature starts with the 18th century texts onward. This marginalized status of German Medieval Studies in the Polish Academia manifests itself correspondingly in the two branches of research: specializations and publications. Drawing upon the relevant German and English-language literature, the author of this paper would like to convince the Polish milieus of the specialists in German Studies of how important Old German literature is. The author also puts forward a postulate that in both the scientific and the didactic discourse within German Studies, the early German literary legacy should be given the position it rightly deserves.