A sea of ruins. Reconstruction in Gdańsk and Hamburg
As part of the Klaus Zernack Colloquium 2025 with the main theme ‘Out of Ruins - War, (Re)Construction and Transformation’, we will be focusing on the reconstruction of two important port cities after the Second World War: Gdańsk and Hamburg on 24 June.
Under the title ‘A sea of ruins. Reconstruction in Gdańsk and Hamburg’, two recognised experts in architectural and urban history will discuss different approaches to the historical reappraisal of reconstruction in the two cities:
Prof. Dr Jacek Friedrich (University of Gdańsk) will shed light on the reconstruction of Gdańsk in the field of tension between ideological interpretation, national heritage and urban change.
The comparative perspective on Gdańsk and Hamburg not only provides new insights into national reconstruction strategies, but also into the role of transnational influences and shared spaces of remembrance in the European context.
Dr phil. Jacek Friedrich is an art historian at the University of Gdansk and Director of the Gdynia City Museum. He is a member of the Gdańsk Scientific Society, the editorial board of the ‘Gdańsk Yearbook’, the Polish National Committee of ICOMOS, the Cultural Council of the Mayor of Gdańsk and the Voivodeship Commission for Urban Planning and Construction. He is also chairman of the Dr Katarzyna Cieślak Foundation and co-editor of the ‘Gedania Artistica’ publishing series. His publications include Neue Stadt im alten Gewand: Der Wiederaufbau Danzigs 1945-1960, Die visuelle Selbstdarstellung der freien Stadt Danzig in Aufbruch und Krise. Eastern Europe and the Germans after the First World War and The Concept of Modernity and Modernity Propaganda in Polish Architectural Discourse from 1945-1949 in Imaginations of the Urban. Conception, Reflection and Fiction of the City in Central and Eastern Europe. His research interests include the architecture of Gdansk from modern times to the present, the relationship between visual culture and ideology in the 19th and 20th centuries, urban reconstruction after 1945, architecture, design and architectural discourse in Poland in the second half of the 20th century. He was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit for his involvement in the rescue of antiques and artefacts during the fire at St Catherine's Church. He has been Director of the Gdańsk National Museum since 2020.
Klaus Zernack Colloquium 2025
Out of Ruins - War, (Re)Construction and Transformation
The Klaus Zernack Colloquium of the Centre for Historical Research Berlin of the Polish Academy of Sciences will take place this year as a cooperation event with the German-Polish House.
