The German-Polish Textbook Commission

Despite the policy of détente between the two countries, the first meeting of the German-Polish Textbook Commission, which took place in Warsaw in 1972, was met with interest rather than enthusiasm among the academics who were hoping for a speedy agreement on the issues at stake. This is evidenced by the statements of the conference participants:

The [Polish] historian Professor Gerard Labuda (1919-2010) who was a member of the German-Polish Textbook Commission from 1972 to 1989, recalled that everyone was in dialogue: "The first contact was something like a mutual testing of the waters. Basically, we didn't even know each other. Contacts between the West German historians and us had been temporarily severed. I have to say, this first attempt was very congenial. They were all experts with their own theses.”[1] 

The Berlin historian Professor Klaus Zernack (born in 1931) voiced a similar assessment: “Looked at with political realism, at a first and perhaps a second glance it hardly stood a chance. Bearing in mind the year 1972, one could say: “Well, you can give it a try, but nothing much will come out of it.”[2]      

Nevertheless, the conference ended with the publication of 14 recommendations on how to deal with German-Polish relations in textbooks on history and geography. Barely two months later, the second meeting of the academics took place in Braunschweig from 12th to 15th April 1972. The meeting ended with the presentation of another 17 expert recommendations for textbooks. In their final report the academics at the textbook conference concluded that it "took place in an open, factual and scientifically stimulating atmosphere that fostered understanding"[3]. They also called for the results of the conference to be put into practice and implemented in the classroom without delay.

Both sets of recommendations dealt with problems of interpretation. They concerned the emergence of the first forms of state in today's Polish and German territories, the achievements of Poland in the Renaissance era, the Reformation in Germany and the period of the Partitions of Poland up to the Second World War. With regard to this last period, it was decided to deal with this topic in detail at the following meetings. The Commission's conferences then took place at regular intervals, sometimes four times a year. New questions were discussed and the recommendations made so far were deepened.

In 1976, the results of the textbook commission were published in both countries, something which caused a great deal of controversy and debate: things like the lack of the term "expulsion" with regard to the Germans who were forced to leave the territories they had lived in after the Second World War. To get round the problem terms such as "evacuation", "forced relocation", "flight" and "deportation" were used. The German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact (Hitler-Stalin Pact or Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact) also remained mentioned, as any reference to it would have resulted in a sharp reaction from the Soviet Union that would certainly have brought the Commission's work to an end. For this very reason, there was also no information on the Katyń massacre in 1940, when Polish officers were shot dead by members of the Soviet People's Internal Affairs Commission (NKVD). Until 1990 the responsibility for this mass murder had been officially attributed to the Germans. So there were times when the political climate forced academics to set aside historical truth and seek compromises accepted by the Communist authorities.

[1]   Interview by Thomas Strobel, a member of the staff at the Georg Eckert Institute for international school book research, with Prof. Gerard Labuda on 28.10.2005, during the 35 anniversary celebrations of the German-Polish Schoolbook commission.

[2]   Interview given by Thomas Strobel with Prof. Klaus Zernack on 08.07.2003.

[3]   Introduction to the publication: Konferencja polskich i zachodnioniemieckich ekspertów w sprawie szkolnych podręczników historii i geografii, Państwowe Zakłady Wydawnictw Szkolnych, Warszawa 1972.