Przekształcenia krajobrazu w miejscowościach dawnych Prus Wschodnich po delimitacji granicy polsko-rosyjskiej

Abstract

The article deals with the transformation of landscape following the delimitation of a state border using the example of the contemporary Polish--Russian borderland. Changes in the material structures of the settlement network and depopulation concern, in particular, localities whose areas have been divided by the border line and those located in the immediate vicinity (within 5 km). Numerous relics of completely depopulated settlement units identified in this space are objects that stand out in the borderland landscape. Thus, they co-create the contemporary landscape identity. The article presents the results of a historical and geographical analysis, showing the distribution of rural settlement units that were liquidated or abandoned as a result of geopolitical changes related to the end of World War II. Moreover, landscape relics of depopulated localities have been identified using measurement data from airborne laser scanning. The destructed objects identified in the historical settlement are among the components of the material memory of the local landscape. They are evidence of the events and socio-political processes that took place over the last few decades in the lands of former East Prussia incorporated into Poland, in particular during the time associated with the delimitation of the current state border.