Abstract

Poland Today: IV. The New Lands

An old German Baedelcer explained the author that the original name for Breslau was "the Old Polish Wroclaw," and innumerable place names in these parts are meaningless German corruptions of descriptive Polish names. Thus the German Kolberg in Pomerania, Poland, was formerly and is now again called Kolobrzeg, which means "Near the Coast." Pommern, Pomerania, was derived from Pomorz; which means "Along the Sea." The Poles love giving you these little lectures in etymology. Archaeology is also sometimes invoked: The author suspects, however, that many Poles who use these etymological and archaeological arguments do so with their tongue in their cheek, knowing perfectly well that but for Germany's total defeat and its earlier decision to annihilate Poland, the question of Poland's "recovery" of eastern Germany would never have arisen.