1. Research on the Identity
Research on the contemporary Kaliningrad Region, i.e. after 1991 when the region (oblast) became part of the Russian Federation, did not immediately tackle the issue of identity of its inhabitants. The dominant subject matter was the new geopolitical situation of the Kaliningrad Region after the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as new economic and social challenges this enclave, separated from the home country by independent states, member states of the European Union and NATO – Poland and Lithuania – faced.
It is important to review the state of research on the identity of the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region and the Warmia and Mazury Region, which should be the starting point for this research in the Polish-Russian borderland. This overview and commentary does not claim the right to outline the comprehensive state of research in this area but is intended to indicate various contexts of identity research, primarily for the residents of the Kaliningrad Region, to a much lesser extent for the residents of the Warmia and Mazury Region. Initial research on the identity of the inhabitants of the Polish-Russian borderland will also be pointed out.
The Western scientists (from Western Europe and occasionally from the USA) have not tackled the problem of regional identity in the Polish-Russian borderland. Only few of them paid attention to the identity of the inhabitants in the Kaliningrad Region. There were discourses of the present Russian Kaliningrad Region and the German heritage. Some studies concentrated on the problem of collective memory prepared by e.g. Jörg Hackmann (2008, 381-391). Alexander Clarkson investigated historical memory and identity in the Kaliningrad Region in the context of the debate on this topic conducted by the universities there (Clarkson, 2017). Others encompass different aspects of the past of the Kaliningrad Region and contemporary changes regarding official symbols, place names, architecture, and history rewriting.
A couple of scholars underlined the process of constructing a new identity among the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region, e.g. Maximilian Spinner (2007, 28). Best known is Ingmar Oldberg who has partly investigated a new socio-political phenomenon: the emergence of a regional identity among inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region (Oldberg, 2000, 269-288). He analysed the separatist attitude by studying the opinions of the inhabitants and the composition of official symbols, place names, architecture, historical rewritings as well as economic and political conditions.
It should be underlined that the issue of an emerging regional identity appears in many other publications, for example in the paper by Christopher Browning and Pertti Joenniemi (Browning, Joenniemi, 2003, 58-103).
The comparative analyses are concerned with two levels of identity: Russian regional (Kaliningrad) and national (federal) with the impact of German history, cultural symbolism on Kaliningrad regional identity. Among others, the following scholars should be mentioned: Stefan Berger (2008, 15-37; 2010, 345-366) and Paul Holtom (2008, 15-37). The latter researcher stressed the perception of the EU-Russian relations by the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants (Holtom, 2010).
Other research tried to investigate the impact of the European Union on the identity of the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants. Stefan Gänzle and Guido Müntel paid attention to the ongoing process of Europeanisation of the Kaliningrad Region caused mainly by direct and indirect contacts with the European Union and its institutions as well as its neighbouring members – Poland and Lithuania (Gänzle, Müntel, 2011, 57-79). The impact of the European Union on the Kaliningrad Region and its inhabitants, especially from the neighbouring EU states: Poland and Lithuania, and also Sweden and Finland was emphesized by Christopher Browning and Pertti Joenniemi (Browning, Joenniemi, 2003, 58-103; Joenniemi, 2002, 417-446) and others. Incidentally, the topic was touched by Christian Wellman (Wellman, Karabeshkin, 2004; Wellman, 2007).
In conclusion, researchers from Western Europe and the US have been quite selective in their research on the identity of the Kaliningrad Region’s inhabitants. They rarely conducted field research, usually in the form of observations and few interviews. It is not surprising that the most comprehensive studies on the contemporary identity of the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants have been conducted by Russian scientists, primarily from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad. Those scientists started their studies on the territorial identity of the population of the Kaliningrad Region right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The others work at universities in Moscow and Sankt Petersburg or in the West. But one of the first general outlines of the topic in the context of ethno-cultural situation was presented by Nadezhda Dubova, Natalia Lopulenko and Marina Martynova from Moscow (Dubova, Lopulenko, Martynova, 1989).
A study by Andrey Klemeshev and Gennady Fedorov on the Kaliningrad society was extremely important for further research on the identity of the inhabitants of the said Region (Klemeshev, Fedorov, 2001, 4-41; 2002, 4-40; 2004, 4-43).
From a stricte sociological perspective, the problem was investigated in a comprehensive manner by Mikhail Berendeev. What he analysed was the process of searching for their own identity by the contemporary inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region (Berendeev, 2007a; 2007b), the influence of economic factors on their identity (Berendeev, 2007c; 2007d), some aspects of social identity (Berendeev 2006a), the socio-philosophical perspective of their identity (Berendeev, 2006b) and their political and economic self-identity (Berendeev, 2007e). He also prepared a doctoral thesis on the said topic (Berendeev, 2007f). The context of the ethno-cultural situation of the Kaliningrad Region as a border region was investigated by Nadezhda V. Zhivenok (see her doctoral thesis, Zhivenok, 2006). In turn, the formation of an ethnic and cultural identity in the Kaliningrad Region as a multicultural region was examined by Nina I. Gulneva-Lugovskaya (see her doctoral thesis, Gulneva-Lugovskaya, 2012).
Anna V. Alimpieva tackled, in a systematic and broadened manner, the social identity problem (Alimpieva, 2003, 169-176; 2004, 45-56; 2005; 2009a, 76-84; 2009b, 36-40; 2014, 60-66). In her research, Olga Sezneva focused on the impact of the German/Prussian past on the identity of contemporary inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region, mainly by studying differences between generations (Sezneva, 2000, 323-338; 2002, 47-64; 2003, 58-85; 2005, 151-178; 2010, 35-57; 2013, 767-787). Such studies were also made by Valeri Galtsov who underlined the role of the specificity related to East Prussia and its past for the contemporary self-consciousness of the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region – i.e the transition from East Prussians to Kaliningradians (Galtsov, 2012, 141-152).
Anna Karpenko, who specialises in research on the identity of society (Karpenko 2008), analysed how the new regional identity emerged in some crossed-referenced processes, such as New Regionalism, and how the increasing role of regional actors in the European and Russian political areas after the end of the Cold War were affected by the impact of globalization (Karpenko, 2006b, 277-286). From the perspective of New Regionalism, she underlined its key dimension in depicting the core of cultural identity strengthened by the context of ethnic and religious aspects (Karpenko, 2006a, 84-95), including the Muslim community (Karpenko, 2005, 307-324) and also the Orthodox Church of Russia (Karpenko, 2011).
The problem of the identity of contemporary inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region in terms of sociology and political sciences was presented by Viktor Romanovskiy (2014, 254-263). Historical aspects of the problem were investigated by above mentioned Valeri Galtsov (2012), and other historians: Yurij Kostyashov (2003), Gennady Kretinin (2001; 2002; 2015) and Oksana Kretinin (2001). The research on national, regional, and local identity from the perspective of European and global identity was prepared by Andrey Klemeshev, Gennady Fedorov and Efim Fidrya (Klemeshev, Fedorov, Fidrya, 2017, 47-55).
The identity of the inhabitants of the Warmia and Mazury Region was of no academic interest to scientists from Russia, including Kaliningrad. Recently, a review of Polish studies on the identity and collective memory of the inhabitants of the contemporary Kaliningrad Region has been conducted (Dementiev, 2019, 104-112). The latest research project on the Kaliningrad identity in cross-border and cross-cultural context was prepared by Anton Gritsenko (2019).
Among Polish scientists, the deepest study on the identity of the Warmia and Mazury Region inhabitants was conducted by Andrzej Sakson (e.g. 1998, 1999). The Ukrainian and German minorities in the Region were also investigated by Bożena Domagała (e.g. 1996, 2009). Both researchers acted as editors of a jointly written book (Domagała, Sakson, 1998). The cultural heritage, historical and regional awareness, tradition, and the contemporary multiculturalism of the Warmia and Mazury Region were analysed by Izabela Lewandowska (e.g. 2003a, 2003b; 2007a, 95-102; 2007b, 194-214; Lewandowska and Romulewicz 2010), Jacek Poniedziałek (e.g. 2010; 2011; 2012; 2013) and other researchers, including historians, for example Wojciech Wrzesiński (1997). Only a few Polish researches, very occasionally, tried to tackle the problem of the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants identity, Wojciech Kotowicz (2011, 151-168; 2018, 157-176) and Krzysztof Żęgota among them, who investigated the problem in terms of politics (2014a, 137-166) and history (Żęgota, 2016a, 63-74) as well as current issues in connection with the monuments policy (Żęgota, 2016b, 87-102).
Preliminary research about collective identity of the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region was started in mid 2010s by Miłosz Zieliński (2014, 66-80; 2015b, 57-64). One of the topics concerned the formation of national and regional identity in the Kaliningrad Region from the cross-border perspective, after introducing the Local Border Traffic between Poland and Russia, as seen by self-government officials, NGO activists and researchers living and working in the Polish cities of Elbląg and Gdańsk (Zieliński, 2015a, 109-134). The research was continued in the framework of the “Identity of the Kaliningrad Oblast since 1991 to present day: constitutive factors and direction of ongoing changes” project (financed by the National Science Centre of Poland, Preludium Programme – 2014/13/N/HS6/04214, years 2015-2017) and was crowned with the preparation of a doctoral thesis on the subject (Zieliński, 2017). Publications followed in the direction of identity creation in the Kaliningrad Region through the official vision of Russianness (Zieliński, 2018a, 937-956) and the process of forming and cementing the so-called new Russian conservatism which has been exerting a growing influence (Zieliński, 2018b, 131-142).
In turn, Krzysztof Żęgota focused primarily on the identity of the Polish Diaspora in the Kaliningrad Region and prepared a doctoral thesis on the subject (Żęgota, 2011) which was published as a book (Żęgota, 2014b).
It is only Andrzej Sakson who permanently, since the second part of the 1990s, has been conducting researches on the mentioned subject, not only on local and regional identity of the Kaliningrad Region, but most importantly on the Warmia and Mazury Region and to a much lesser extent on the Klaipeda Region (Sakson, 2008, 118-127).
His crowning research achievement was the fundamental scientific work (Sakson, 2011) entitled Od Kłajpedy do Olsztyna. Współcześni mieszkańcy byłych Prus Wschodnich: Kraj Kłajpedzki, Obwód Kaliningradzki, Warmia i Mazury [‘From Klaipeda to Olsztyn. Contemporary inhabitants of former East Prussia: the Klaipeda Region, Kaliningrad Region, Warmia and Mazury Region’]. The work is based on numerous direct and indirect conversations, interviews, observations, and quantitative surveys which were supplemented by archival queries, analyses of official documents, memoirs, literature, newspapers, and websites. In his work, he focused on the process of formation of a new identity among modern inhabitants of former East Prussia and their relation to the German (Prussian) past1.
He continues the research on the identity of the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants (Sakson, 2016, 513-523), sociological and historical aspects of the heritage of East Prussia (Sakson, 2017) and its impact on the contemporary situation of the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad, Warmia and Mazury and Klaipeda Regions (Sakson, 2013, 253-270).
Until now, the Polish-Russian borderland identity has not been scientifically recognised but to a small extent. Arkadiusz Żukowski uses the term “identity” in reference to the borderland basically as a concept for the future (Żukowski 2008a, 308-314; 2008b, 647-653). The researcher made preliminary findings on the possible impact of the Local Border Traffic on the identity of the inhabitants of the Polish-Russian borderland (Żukowski, 2013, 99-110) and on the idea of regional identity of the said area inhabitants (Żukowski, 2016, 43-62).
2. Borderland – a Concept (of Cooperation?)
Borderlands are often called the frontier areas. Such areas usually are diverse ethnically, culturally and located on the outskirts of the neighbouring countries (Modzelewski, Żukowski, 2013, 35-43). Every borderland through the economic, social and cultural sphere is seen or should be seen as the contact area of mutual influence and penetration of a variety of contacts across national borders which naturally can turn the borderline into a kind of bridge between the neighbouring countries. In turn, this kind of region is most often understood as a separate, relatively homogeneous area distinct from other areas of natural or acquired traits. Depending on the group of extracted features we can talk about regional climate, an environment-friendly region, historical region, demographic region, economic region or political-administration region. In contrast, a cross-border region is a region located on both sides of the border, which should have the certain degree of homogeneity (geographical, economic, cultural community, regional awareness), the development and status of the region and the institutionalization of cross-border cooperation, which is associated with a lack of or low formalization level of the state border.
The term ‘borderland’ is understood as an area of contacts between two countries, including the regions defined according to the principal territorial division of the state. These borderlands are often characterised by their peripherality in the national dimension (most of them are located far from the main areas of the country’s socio-economic activity) and in the international and geopolitical dimension (in the European Union terminology such borderlands are called “outermost regions”). This problem affects all regions of the world.
The establishment of contacts between borderlands determines the emergence of the cross-border phenomenon. According to the European Framework Convention on Transfrontier Cooperation of Territorial Communities and Authorities, any joint action undertaken to strengthen and further develop the neighbourly relations between the territorial communities and authorities of two or more contracting parties, as well as to conclude the agreements and arrangements necessary for this purpose shall be regarded as cross-border (European) cooperation. The cross-border cooperation shall be limited by the framework of the competences of territorial communities and authorities, as defined by national laws.
The cross-border cooperation can be defined as neighbourhood cooperation of adjacent border regions. It serves, for example, to mitigate the adverse effects of the existence of borders by carrying out joint projects and solving problems, e.g. reducing peripherality (although it is worth remembering that peripherality of a location does not always translate into economic peripherality). It is currently an important factor of regional development and security.
The area of cooperation around national borders consisting of administrative regions creates a cross-border area (region), cross-border or simply a border area. This category has a multithreaded and multi-faceted nature, determined, among others, by historical, cultural and political factors.
A cross-border region treated as a certain whole (e.g. in historical terms), however, does not constitute a single socio-economic space, but is the sum of spaces connected to the territories of the neighbouring countries.
The degree of contacts between the borderlands depends mainly on the specificity of the state border, including its openness. The evolution of the border’s function is now visible: from the spatial barrier to the plane of cooperation, the border is a meeting place especially in the context of globalisation, the essence of which is the shrinking space, shrinking time and disappearing borders. Each contemporary state is subject to these processes with different intensity, and their perception by its society or political elites may also be different. This is determined by a number of objective and subjective factors, including political ones, and may boil down to an assessment of the cross-border phenomenon by comparing the resulting risks and benefits.
The growing importance of cross-border interactions and their direct impact on border space has led to the emergence of a new type of state policy – border policy, whose main objective is to regulate the functioning of the border and to harmonise the dynamics of cross-border processes within the national territory. The border policy has taken an indirect position between foreign and internal policies in their traditional sense.
The cross-border cooperation may cover the following areas: health, education, communication/transport, tourism, transport infrastructure, industry, trade promotion, agriculture, environmental protection, energy and also security in form of cooperation between police and border guards.
The cooperation may also concern the issue of shaping the new identity of the inhabitants of the Polish-Russian borderland. The borderland has become part of the social consciousness (Sakson, 2001, 32-42).
For centuries, the territory of former East Prussia had been one integrated historical region. In 1945, it was divided into two areas/states, which for over half a century almost did not cooperate with each other. Artificially designated border drawn across the East Prussia area singled out two foreign territories: the Polish and the Soviet.
The specificity of this territory consists not only of the elements of nature and geography, such as the location, landscape, environmental subsystem or hydrographic network, but most of all, it derives from the specific historical and political circumstances, creating the new national-ethnic composition, new social and economic relations and the new shaping of cultural identity.
It was not until the 1990s that the border nature of the area began to shape which was triggered by the social, political and economic transformation in Central and Eastern Europe. The area does not have the typical characteristics of the socio-historical borderland normally attributed to the native people as they constitute a very small percentage of the total population.
On both sides of the border live populations with little social cohesion. This is mainly due to political decisions that forced new immigrant population of complex ethnic composition, different traditions, culture and religion (including atheists) to the territory.
3. The Warmia and Mazury Region – Historical and Political Background
After 1945, due to the centralization of political, economic and social life, as well as promotion of the so-called “national unity of the state”, the identity of the inhabitants was destroyed. Such policy was supported by forced deportation or migration. North East of Poland, now covering the area of Warmia and Mazury Voivodeship, especially the counties located in the vicinity of the Polish-Russian border, was strongly affected by the policy of cleansing the area of the indigenous peoples (the Germans, Warmian and Masurian ethnic groups).
Today, the northeastern Polish borderland has some characteristics of a backward region. The socio-economic statistics or most indicators differ negatively from national averages. In this area a lower economic, social and political activity (e.g. GDP, GDP per capita, unemployment, activity of non-governmental organizations, political parties, voters’ turnout) is noted.
The specificity of this area also results from the fact that the Polish-Russian border is also the border between Russia and the European Union and NATO.
4. The Kaliningrad Region – Past and Present in the Context of Regional Identity
Considering the Russian side of the borderland, the population of the Kaliningrad Region (Oblast) survived more than forty five years in internal isolation. The Region was a closed zone/area and a strong Soviet military base. It was the scene for the experiment of building a Communist/Socialist society by social engineering to create homo sovieticus (Sakson, 2009, 257-271). All traces of the cultural heritage of East Prussia were being consistently removed (e.g. building the government office House of Soviets on the ruins of the Teutonic Castle). The history of the Region was confined to the Soviet post-war period (Browning, Joenniemi, 2003, 70). The Soviet times saw full negation of the German/Prussian past.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Kaliningrad inhabitants had not only trouble finding their own identity, but they also found it difficult to clarify their relationship/attitude to the neighbours. Previously, in the Communist period, ideological friendship between nation/peoples was promoted but only over the sealed/closed border or in form of meetings arranged by authorities. The political, economic and social events in late 1980s and 1990s on one hand created a new quality in the social consciousness of the Kaliningrad Region inhabitants and a vacuum space on the other. The inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region manifested lack of clear historically formed self-perception (Misiunas, 2004, 385-411). But soon, ethnic and religious revival came into being. There were gradual and slow changes of the attitude towards the material culture and symbolic heritage of the pre-war past (German/Prussian), cautiously and slowly accepted. East Prussia became a multidimensional symbol and a socio-cultural historical phenomenon (Galtsov, 2013).
The specificity of the Kaliningrad Region does not only result from its geopolitical situation with the status of a Russian enclave (Chełminiak, Żukowski, 2015, 233-240). The closeness of the European Union and neighbours has been playing an important role. The inhabitants of the Region are more open and socially active than in other regions of the Russian Federation (e.g. the activity of different kinds of NGOs and informal groups of ideas exchange is visibly higher than in other regions of Russia). Many Kaliningraders, especially representatives of the younger generation, have never been to main Russia but, instead, often visited the neighbouring and Western European countries.
It is a fact that the regional identity of the Kaliningraders is emerging but not in contradiction to Russian identity. The main cause of the regional identity is a unique location of the Kaliningrad Region kerbed by the neighbouring states (European Union and NATO member states, Poland since 2004 has been in the EU and since 1999 in NATO). The new identity, to some extent, brings together the regional, Russian, and European elements.
Some scholars showed some similarities between Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg – “They are both solidly Russian, Western-oriented and with economic grievances against the federal centre” (Oldberg, 2001, 71). Others stated that the Kaliningraders began to transform into the “Western/European” type of Russians or “in-between” identity of the inhabitants (Browning, Joenniemi, 2003, 73). In some aspects the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region combine both a Russian identity and a European one. According to the research they have begun to feel their regional distinctiveness.
Their new identity is based on regional, European and Russian elements with the dominant impact of the latter. But “regional identity is more important than ethnic or confessional membership” and “the territorial factor is beginning to predominate over the national” (Goble, 2010). In contradiction to the other parts of the Russian Federation special Kaliningradian identity was created (Galtsov, 2012, 141-152).
Regional identity has been influenced by such historical and contemporary elements as: pre-war Prussian traditions, German past, Soviet and Russian Federation period and the attitude towards Russia and Poland as a neighbour, as well as towards the European Union and NATO.
On both sides of the border, the religious identity is defined by ethnicity and culture (I am a Pole, then I am a Catholic; I am a Russian, then to a lesser extent I am an Orthodox).
5. Polish-Russian Borderland – a Concept of Identity and the “Positive Legend”
Both the Warmia and Mazury Region and the Kaliningrad Region are new cultural entities without clearly defined identity yet. It also indicates the existence of dissonance between the border areas, from the Polish and Russian side, arising from some differences in the level of civilization, which appears frequently in the media rather than in reality (raised especially at the beginning of the 1990s).
By the end of the 1980s, the border community had largely been cut off from contacts with people over the international border (the Warmia and Mazury Region and the Kaliningrad Region). The new quality of relations, breaking with selective and formalized contacts began in the early 1990s (Gromadzki, Wilk, 2001). But social, political and economic contacts between both regions possessed quite strong and long institutional background (Palmowski, 2007; Modzelewski, 2011, 153-168).
Political and economic realities in Poland after 1989 certainly raised hopes of the inhabitants of the Polish borderlands. However, it was true for the Polish western borderland; for the northeastern Polish borderland the enthusiasm was not so obvious. Among the reasons, lack of the historical tradition or the cultural and religious proximity prevailed. First of all, there was no concept of mutual cooperation on either side of the border. Regarding the Polish-German borderland, hopes were connected with propaganda boosted development of cooperation in the construction of a “common European home” or “Europe of the regions without borders”. Those activities were often associated with the Polish-German reconciliation. The fundamental reorientation of Polish economic relations from the East to the West was perceived positively. However, in the case of the Polish – Russian borderland nobody said anything about building “a common home” or the like. Here, it was chiefly the rapid economic benefits stemming from mainly the development of trade with Kaliningrad that accounted for the cooperation.
In the context of the northeastern Polish borderland, the Polish-Russian border line, it is still difficult to talk about strong local socio-political and economic movements or associations, which articulate the specificity of the region, and which put the goals to protect the interests of the inhabitants of this land. In most areas of these lands, there is no separate group, both in terms of spatial, ethnic, cultural and social matters which could fight for the autonomy in internal and external actions. The symbolism of the contemporary “little homeland” is basically absent.
The processes of the rebirth of national and ethnic identity of the inhabitants of the northeastern Polish borderland which were clearly visible in the 1990s (German and Ukrainian minorities, the inhabitants of the former Polish Eastern Borderlands) did not strongly affect the intensification of the cross-border contacts and regional identity.
Residents of the northeastern Polish borderland have merely correct relations with the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region. The attitude of openness and friendship between the so-called “ordinary citizens” and local and regional officials have often appeared in contradiction to the state of official Polish-Russian relations, especially at the government level (Żukowski, 2002, 323-348). It seems that Polish political elites may take an example from the so-called “ordinary citizens” and local officials in creating a climate of tolerance and understanding in mutual contacts.
The so called “positive legend” has not yet been created on the northeastern Polish borderland. This kind of legend could promote cooperation in the framework of a new Europe, especially among the younger generation. Given such a legend, there would be no serious problems with the identity of the inhabitants in reference to the territory on which they live. The introduction of the so-called “positive legend” could favour the crystallization of a positive local, regional, national and European identity. This is particularly important and quite easy to implement because, as it was mentioned before, in this area, no permanent local or regional identity has been developed so far.
The assumptions for building an open and civil society draws attention to the importance of the aspect of identification and regional identity. Creating the “positive legend” or regional identity, in addition to identifying the existing geographical space and the authority of the state, the civilization heritage of the area must be taken into account. This is likely to make young generation start thinking of themselves as Warmians and Mazurians (original inhabitants of Warmia and Mazury), or even Prussians/Pruthenians.
As noted before, in the Kaliningrad Region the phenomenon of the slow emergence of regional identity of its inhabitants occurs. Today, many of them see the distinctiveness of their region from other parts of the Russian Federation. A slow process of creating a new identity among the inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region, in the sense of belonging to the region and Europe had begun. The rise and intensification of a distinct regional identity combining both Russian and European elements is a fact.
The process is underway. The Kaliningrad Region inhabitants had and still have the awareness of the non-existing historically formed, clear self-perception. But at the same time, authors of such opinions concluded that a new local identity appears to be germinating (Misiunas, 2004, 385-411).
In forming a new identity, the eventual emergence of some form of genuine local autonomy of the Kaliningrad Region should be favoured for the success of the process. It could be a beginning of the process of regional identity-building on both sides of the Polish-Russian border.
In the case of the northeastern Polish borderland, there is no need to make a breakthrough in mutual attitudes to each other between Poles and Russians. In these areas, as opposed to the western Polish borderland, there are no mutual prejudices and fears between the relations of Poles and Russians.
6. Conclusions
Apart from the worries and inconveniences, the implementation of the idea of the Local Border Traffic (the agreement entered into force in mid-2012 and was suspended in mid-2016 without time limit) could have a positive impact on better knowledge and understanding of the inhabitants of the Polish-Russian borderland by building partnerships at the individual and institutional level with the help from local self-governments, non-governmental organizations and the scientific and educational institutions. The Local Border Traffic could serve to build in the future a common economic, social and cultural (and perhaps ultimately a political quasi) space by free movement of people of the adjacent areas. As a new phenomenon, the Local Border Traffic could noticeably enhance the process of regional identity but first and foremost the development of cross-border cooperation on the Polish-Russian borderland (Modzelewski, 2002, 210-214; Modzelewski, 2006). Unfortunately, it is difficult to specify the influence of the Local Border Traffic on the Kaliningrad and Warmia and Mazury Regions inhabitants regarding their regional identities because it has been suspended by the Polish authorities.
Taking into account the containment of the Region among the European Union and the North Atlantic Alliance states, the regional identity is likely to acquire Eurocentric tendencies in the future, due to the generation replacement of the regional society, the high frequency of social communication with the border states and the rest of the EU and low cohesion degree or even loss of kinship-blood and culture with Russia proper.
In fact, the current official Polish-Russian relations have been at their lowest level since their establishment. As it happens, they are characterized not only by unwillingness, but also sometimes by hostility. Conflict dominated relations had always been an immanent feature of the Polish-Russian contacts. The most acute manifestation of this occurred in the context of both sides’ involvement in the Ukraine and Georgia military actions. For the authorities in Warsaw, Russia is a threat to Poland’s security and destabilises the situation in Central and Eastern Europe. In Poland, a specific historical policy begins to dominate in the official media, and nationalist and xenophobic slogans gain supporters.
In Russia, on the other hand, efforts have been made to consolidate the national identity of the state and the national identity of Russian citizens, as opposed to regional specificity.
As a result, the process of the formation of a regional identity has been basically halted. It is hard to disagree with the statements that in the Kaliningrad Region ever strengthened sense of national identity, followed by the regional and local identity, and the sense of European and global identity is significantly lower (Klemeshev, et al. 2017, 47-55). Efim Fidrya even stated that the Kaliningraders started to feel more like Russians (
In the future, attention of the political decision-making centres should be drawn to the development of the so-called “positive awareness” of the inhabitants of the Polish-Russian borderland. An important argument in favour of the creation of this new collective consciousness of the borderland is that it contributes to removing the existing xenophobic and extreme nationalist behaviours. Such policy would assist in creating communities on both sides of the border facing each other as friends rather than strangers which was the case in the past. Creating and strengthening regional identity on the Polish-Russian borderland may be a common vision for the future.
Works Cited
Alimpieva, Anna V. (2003). “Калининградцы: проблема социальной идентичности (The people of Kaliningrad: A social identity issue).” Anna V. Alimpieva, ed. Идентичность в контексте глобализации: Россия, Европа, США (Identity in the context of globalization: Russia, Europe, US), сб. науч. тр. Калининград: Изд - во КГУ, 169-176.
Alimpieva, Anna V. (2004). “Эксклавный российский регион: проблема социальной идентичности (Exclave Russian region: social identity issue).” Аndrey Klemeshev, ed. Регион в условиях глобализации (The region in the context of globalization). Регион сотрудничества (Region for Cooperation) 17 (42). Калининград: Издво КГУ, 45-56.
Alimpieva Anna V. (2005). The social identity problem in the Russian exclave region. <http://www.iriss.ru/attach_download?object_id=000150073740&attach_id=000543> (November 9, 2010).
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Concerning the identity of inhabitants of the Kaliningrad Region see subsection and chapter: Kaliningrad or Königsberg? – Attitude to the past and The new identities in the light of own research.