382 GRANICE'Polish' places were at that period, from what they have since become. Having
read Baedeker's description of Breslau, for example, it is pertinent to ask
whether the author's evident emphasis on the city's Prussian and German con-
nections does not derive from his own native German prejudice.^23 One should
also ask whether the scarcity of Polish references derives from the absence in the
city at that date of any substantive Polish influence. Unless Baedeker was a total
charlatan, which in view of his international reputation is unlikely, the open-
minded reader gets the distinct impression that Breslau may well have been a
thoroughly German city. In which case, it is not unreasonable to refer to it at
that period as 'Breslau' rather than as 'Wroclaw'.
Turning to a comparable Polish text published in 1970, one is forced to admit
that the picture is almost unrecognizable. Having read one's Travel-Guide
Poland', it is pertinent to ask whether the evident emphasis on the city's Polish
connections does not derive from the fact that the book was edited and pub-
lished by an official agency of the Polish People's Republic.^24 One should also
ask whether the scarcity of references to the city's German connections is due to
the authors' prejudices or perhaps to the absence at that date of any substantive
German influence. Unless the authors were total charlatans, which is unlikely,
one gets the distinct impression that Wroclaw in 1970 may well have been a
thoroughly Polish city. In which case, it is not unreasonable to refer to it, in the
post-war period, as 'Wroclaw' rather than as 'Breslau'.
The guidebooks only hint at the catastrophic events which changed Breslau
into Wroclaw. In January 1945, at the advance of the Soviet Army, Hitler
ordered Festung-Breslau to be defended to the last .man. The resident civilians,
almost entirely German, were ordered to abandon their' homes, and to make
their way in the depth of winter into the heart of Germany. Many of them, as
helpless refugees, were incinerated by the RAF's fire-;bomb raid on Dresden.
Three months later, when the beleaguered survivors of Breslau's garrison capit-
ulated, much of the Silesian capital had been razed to the ground. Its native
inhabitants had gone. Its ruins were occupied by units of the Soviet and Polish
armies, and then handed over to the administration of the Recovered
Territories. In discussing the matter with Stalin in 1944, Mikolajczyk had
remarked that Wroclaw was 'a purely German town'. Stalin replied that in
olden times it was a Slav city and 'nothing prevents it from returning to its for-
mer historical tradition'. (In this conversation, Stalin actually talked of
'Boryslaw'.^25 ) In 1945-7, the city was completely repopulated by Polish
refugees. Many of them came from Lwow, having suffered a fate at Soviet hands
not too dissimilar to that suffered by the Germans of Breslau from the Nazis.
The University, the Library, the Ossolineum Institute, together with thousands
of their employees and their chattels, were transported from Lwow en bloc.
Later on, other Poles drifted in from other devastated regions of the country. In
this light, 'Wroclaw' may better be regarded as a partial reincarnation of Lwow
than as a continuation of Breslau. Nowadays, the city is thriving, and is
vibrantly Polish. The older inhabitants often speak with the lilting accent of the