6533b82dfe1ef96bd1290bef

RESEARCH PRODUCT

"Podróż dla przyjemności przez Górny Śląsk". Obraz krainy konstruowany przez niemieckiego turystę na progu XIX wieku

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Leisure trip through Upper Silesia is the text of a German author anonymously published in the „Schlesische Provinzial-Blätter” in 1805 (No. 41; German title – Lustreise durch Oberschlesien). Until now, it was perceived in the political dimension. It was believed that the text was to present glorious development of the region under Prussian rule and, therefore, it was interpreted as a justification for the benefits born out of conquest. The article’s author concluded that the content of this guide can be perceived slightly different, namely, in the perspective of developing travel literature in its various forms in the nineteenth century. Only through a combination of dual perspectives: 1) ideological (attempt to „revise” axiology of one of the areas constituting the map of Prussia) and 2) cultural tourism (an attempt to create this particular area for an interesting tour excursion) this document can be seen as a polemic of existing traditional perception of the region. They wanted to change it, because they realized that unattractive stereotype of Upper Silesia, deprived of technical culture and inhabited by wild people, is harmful not only for the region, but also for the entire country. Biased, unfair image of colonized Upper Silesia interfered with settling issues of great German fatherland, which had undertaken various efforts to gain a high position in Europe starting from the eighteenth century. Repealing of unjust opinion about the region in order to replace it with a striking image, however, was a new form of ideologization, because under the influence of good experience in traveling around „alien land” Upper Silesia could be incorporated into lands of the Prussian „homeland” but also finds its place in the directory of tourist attractions. Praising description of visited region allowed bring it closer to the position of hegemon, and also had a marketing justification. In conclusion, the article’s author was of the opinion that declared by the German author the aim to diagnosis the region of Upper Silesia in order to improve its cultural position could be a step in the process of incorporation of Upper Silesia into the region of the Prussian reality, a kind of a pass into a rational German world. Additionally, it fostered its tourism promotion.