This presentation will feature archival materials from Polish and German archives that help trace daily life in East Pomerania or Ostpommern from the late 19th to the middle of the 20th century. Documents include official correspondence, private letters, diaries, newspaper articles, and memoirs. The presentation will also include tips on how to find materials from specific counties and villages in both German and Polish archives, as well as provide an overview of digitized sources.

Dr. Matro is a German native and spent countless hours in German and Polish archives, historical institutions, museums and universities in Bayreuth, Szczecin and Warsaw doing research for her Postwar in No Man’s Land Ph.D. dissertation. Her dissertation won the prestigious 2016 Fritz Stern Dissertation Prize from the German Historical Institute in Washington, D.C. for the best doctoral dissertation on a topic in German history written at a North American university. Dr. Matro graduated summa cum laude from Amherst College, holds an MA from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a Ph.D. in central European history from Stanford University. Currently, Dr. Matro is a history and sociology teacher at a Montgomery County Maryland public high school. She is fluent in 3 languages.