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Duchy Bałtyku. Podróże wzdłuż niemieckiego wybrzeża
Ta podróż zaczyna się w muzeum, od spojrzenia na Mnicha nad brzegiem morza i Opactwo w dębowym lesie. Mrok obrazów Caspara Davida Friedricha pasuje do Bałtyku – "najbardziej złowieszczej i strasznej z wód Europy".
Wędrowny esej Scratona przywołuje fragmenty skomplikowanej historii Niemiec. Czy zbrodnia, choćby popełniona przed naszym urodzeniem, ale w kraju, którego paszport nosimy, wciąż nas w jakiś sposób naznacza? Czy nadal ponosimy odpowiedzialność za duchy na wybrzeżu? Te pytania oraz losy zatopionych okrętów i statków, biografie wielkich pisarzy, skrawki życia w NRD i trudnych latach zjednoczenia wyznaczają tor pieszej wyprawy autora. Miejsce znajdą tu też historie wyparte i zapomniane, jak ta z Prory, miejscowości, w której na zlecenie Hitlera zbudowano ośrodek wypoczynkowy, mający zachęcić robotników do wstępowania w szeregi nazistowskiej armii. Dziś, zakłamując historię, reklamuje się ją jako modny kurort pełny nowoczesnych apartamentowców.
Duchy Bałtyku to fascynujący dziennik podróży po niemieckim wybrzeżu, pełen literackich odniesień, brutalnej historii i nostalgii. Miasta rozpadają się i giną w morzu. Bałtyk pozostaje.
Wędrowny esej Scratona przywołuje fragmenty skomplikowanej historii Niemiec. Czy zbrodnia, choćby popełniona przed naszym urodzeniem, ale w kraju, którego paszport nosimy, wciąż nas w jakiś sposób naznacza? Czy nadal ponosimy odpowiedzialność za duchy na wybrzeżu? Te pytania oraz losy zatopionych okrętów i statków, biografie wielkich pisarzy, skrawki życia w NRD i trudnych latach zjednoczenia wyznaczają tor pieszej wyprawy autora. Miejsce znajdą tu też historie wyparte i zapomniane, jak ta z Prory, miejscowości, w której na zlecenie Hitlera zbudowano ośrodek wypoczynkowy, mający zachęcić robotników do wstępowania w szeregi nazistowskiej armii. Dziś, zakłamując historię, reklamuje się ją jako modny kurort pełny nowoczesnych apartamentowców.
Duchy Bałtyku to fascynujący dziennik podróży po niemieckim wybrzeżu, pełen literackich odniesień, brutalnej historii i nostalgii. Miasta rozpadają się i giną w morzu. Bałtyk pozostaje.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 8, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 22, 2025
4,5
Sięgnęłam, bo po prostu było w bibliotece, a mając ochotę na reportaż mogę zaufać Sulinie, i było to coś, czego potrzebowałam nawet o tym nie wiedząc. Na początku pomyślałam "o czym to może być? jak można napisać reportaż o wybrzeżu?". Kończąc wiem już, że nie jest to reportaż o wybrzeżu, owszem, skupia w sobie historie i konteksty związane z konkretną okolicą, ale jest to przede wszystkim pozycja o Niemczech, o piętnie XX wieku na przeciętnym obywatelu, a nawet jeszcze szerzej, refleksja nad pamięcią miejsca i czasu oraz nad dziedziczeniem wspomnień.
W dodatku nie dłuży się, nie męczy i nie nudzi zbyt szczegółowymi faktami, jak to czasem bywa. Są to bardzo różnorodne zapiski, oparte na doświadczeniach własnych autora, historiach poszczególnych osób związanych z wybrzeżem czy ciekawostkach lub faktach historycznych. Czasem te fragmenty przeskakują między sobą dość dynamicznie, niektórzy mogą uznać, że wręcz chaotycznie, ale dla mnie wszystko jest spięte do perfekcji. Do 5 brakuje mi tylko tej potrzeby, żeby jak najszybciej wrócić do kolejnych stron.
Sięgnęłam, bo po prostu było w bibliotece, a mając ochotę na reportaż mogę zaufać Sulinie, i było to coś, czego potrzebowałam nawet o tym nie wiedząc. Na początku pomyślałam "o czym to może być? jak można napisać reportaż o wybrzeżu?". Kończąc wiem już, że nie jest to reportaż o wybrzeżu, owszem, skupia w sobie historie i konteksty związane z konkretną okolicą, ale jest to przede wszystkim pozycja o Niemczech, o piętnie XX wieku na przeciętnym obywatelu, a nawet jeszcze szerzej, refleksja nad pamięcią miejsca i czasu oraz nad dziedziczeniem wspomnień.
W dodatku nie dłuży się, nie męczy i nie nudzi zbyt szczegółowymi faktami, jak to czasem bywa. Są to bardzo różnorodne zapiski, oparte na doświadczeniach własnych autora, historiach poszczególnych osób związanych z wybrzeżem czy ciekawostkach lub faktach historycznych. Czasem te fragmenty przeskakują między sobą dość dynamicznie, niektórzy mogą uznać, że wręcz chaotycznie, ale dla mnie wszystko jest spięte do perfekcji. Do 5 brakuje mi tylko tej potrzeby, żeby jak najszybciej wrócić do kolejnych stron.
March 8, 2018
This book is beautiful. it evokes a little-known coastline in great detail, doing for the Baltic shoreline what The Rings of Saturn did for East Anglia, and the Riddle of the Sands did for Germany's North Sea coast (at least for me). It gave me chills and I am reading it spaced over a long time as I enjoy each chapter separately, like weekend trips to the drizzly Baltic, a refreshing tonic when living in a hot Mediterranean climate.
September 3, 2017
Ghosts on the Shore is a record of Paul Scraton's meanderings along Germany's Baltic Coast. The author's partner spent her childhood there, mostly during the latter period of the two Germanys. He makes a number of journeys, sometimes alone and at others with his partner as well as, from time to time, with his partner's family. Collectively he travels from Lübeck in the West to the Polish border in the East.
If the book has a fault it's that the author tries to cover too much ground in a relatively slim volume. Having said that, it's otherwise a riveting read encompassing much, but by no means all, of the German Baltic Coast's rich history from the Hanseatic League to the re-unification of Germany in 1990. Along the way he treads on soil once home to literary giants Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Günter Grass and Hans Falada and the rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun at Peenemünde
At Prora he recalls the gigantic Nazi holiday complex designed to reward citizens of the Third Reich rest and recreation via the Strength through Joy programme. Amongst other highlight's of the author's oddessy is time spent at the holiday resort of Travemünde where more than seventy years ago the soldiers of the Durham Light Infantry rested after their nightmare time in liberating Belsen.
Frequently staring out to sea, Scraton remembers the sinking of the SS Cap Arcona which was sent to the bottom by RAF bombers in early May 1945 with four thousand concentration camp prisoners on board who were scheduled to drown when the SS scuttled the ship. Those who survived were machine gunner in the water by the SS. An even greater loss of life occurred when the MV Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine with the loss of almost ten thousand German civilian refugees fleeing from East Prussia and the advancing Red Army in early 1945.
But Ghosts on the Shore is not just about the bloody history of Germany. The author, in describing these events, tries to make sense of German history, endeavouring, though he doesn't say so, to explain how a race of people with so much talent in science, literature, art. music and so on could have given birth to the Third Reich. Like many before him, he finds no answers. In one particular chilling passage, he recalls the story of a former GDR citizen who is hounded for some perfectly innocuous mild collaboration with the Stasi in the 'new' Germany, after re-unification. A very fine book indeed.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
If the book has a fault it's that the author tries to cover too much ground in a relatively slim volume. Having said that, it's otherwise a riveting read encompassing much, but by no means all, of the German Baltic Coast's rich history from the Hanseatic League to the re-unification of Germany in 1990. Along the way he treads on soil once home to literary giants Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Günter Grass and Hans Falada and the rocket scientists led by Wernher von Braun at Peenemünde
At Prora he recalls the gigantic Nazi holiday complex designed to reward citizens of the Third Reich rest and recreation via the Strength through Joy programme. Amongst other highlight's of the author's oddessy is time spent at the holiday resort of Travemünde where more than seventy years ago the soldiers of the Durham Light Infantry rested after their nightmare time in liberating Belsen.
Frequently staring out to sea, Scraton remembers the sinking of the SS Cap Arcona which was sent to the bottom by RAF bombers in early May 1945 with four thousand concentration camp prisoners on board who were scheduled to drown when the SS scuttled the ship. Those who survived were machine gunner in the water by the SS. An even greater loss of life occurred when the MV Wilhelm Gustloff was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine with the loss of almost ten thousand German civilian refugees fleeing from East Prussia and the advancing Red Army in early 1945.
But Ghosts on the Shore is not just about the bloody history of Germany. The author, in describing these events, tries to make sense of German history, endeavouring, though he doesn't say so, to explain how a race of people with so much talent in science, literature, art. music and so on could have given birth to the Third Reich. Like many before him, he finds no answers. In one particular chilling passage, he recalls the story of a former GDR citizen who is hounded for some perfectly innocuous mild collaboration with the Stasi in the 'new' Germany, after re-unification. A very fine book indeed.
David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen and Two Families at War, all published by Sacristy Press.
March 7, 2021
This is a book that's hard to categorise, being at once a travel guide, a history, reportage on the Baltic coastline of Germany. Scraton's wife is from the former GDR and was brought up in the area, so accompanies him on several of his journeys as he travels along the entire coastline from west to east. It's an attempt to make sense of this part of Germany's history - not simply its more recent post-WWII period, but looking further back to a time before Germany was in any sense a nation, and when in fact this area was part of the Swedish Empire. He examines the development of the coast as a mega-resort both before and after Germany's division into East and West. He paints a picture of both the shoreline and the communities that have grown, evolved and changed. I found the three (fictional?) episodes designed to show how East Germany's past casts its shadows over the present less satisfactory. It's a book that's made me curious about this area, and I'm glad to have read it: but I'm left with a lingering feeling that somehow, it could have been better, less diffuse.
August 21, 2020
Last 100 pages to finish another time. Most effective as longform travel journalism gravitating illustratively toward local political history; less effective as a scattershot and rather unambitious survey of the region's cultural haunts and heritage; really ineffective when it swerves into fictional spitballing, mainly because these passages indulge Scraton's pervasive prose style, whose lack of subtextual restraint isn't well suited to evoking palimpsests of lingering or echoing social narratives. Not a particularly holistic or fecund essayistic approach overall (to compare with clear influences like Sebald — big footprints to follow in), though not without its illuminating or resonant discussions, so while I intend to finish this I'm not in any mad rush to do so.
July 21, 2017
Scraton's work crosses genre. Inspired by his German wife's childhood on the Baltic coast in the GDR, he writes this work comprising both non-fiction and fiction to explore the history and present of this place. Scraton is himself British and I wondered about his own family's experiences in England. He referenced himself only near the end, mentioning that he's a child of an island (371) and acknowledging his guilty feelings that some of the tragic instances had been the result of his birth country's actions. Though a photo album sparks his interest in pursuing this project and he does explore with his wife and father-in-law, that family is not really the focus of the book.
He considers German nationalism a reaction to the Naploleonic wars and a reaction to modernity (283). I think of nationalism as an aspect of 19-20th century modernity.
Uncomfortable elements of history can be whitewashed or ignored but also sometimes "hidden in plain sight" (300)
He's shocked and saddened at the vandalization of a memorial: "But the letters had been taken, and like the sole memorial plaque, the fact of the theft was more unsettling in the here and now than the knowledge of all those dead buried beneath my feet as our voices and footsteps echoed in the empty memorial (332).
He pondered memorials and "then those where the only acknowledgement of events is in your own head, thanks to your own knowledge of what happened. But what happens when you are gone, and there is no one left to remember? (346)
History happens.
In one of his fictional sections, a character considers, "The possibility of disruption to the daily routine. Nothing would happen. But it might. As soon as something is different, something might happen" (355). I thought his fictional segments an interesting attempt at telling the history with an emotional aspect. Not that his non-fiction was devoid of sentiment. Just another method.
On 384, he's back to a painting by Friedrich that he described in the opening chapter. Full circle.
387 "If there were ghosts on this shore, here at the water's edge, it was because we had brought them with us. Those ghosts are indeed our responsibility, and they will liven in our memories of this place and others, and in the stories we choose to tell."
He considers German nationalism a reaction to the Naploleonic wars and a reaction to modernity (283). I think of nationalism as an aspect of 19-20th century modernity.
Uncomfortable elements of history can be whitewashed or ignored but also sometimes "hidden in plain sight" (300)
He's shocked and saddened at the vandalization of a memorial: "But the letters had been taken, and like the sole memorial plaque, the fact of the theft was more unsettling in the here and now than the knowledge of all those dead buried beneath my feet as our voices and footsteps echoed in the empty memorial (332).
He pondered memorials and "then those where the only acknowledgement of events is in your own head, thanks to your own knowledge of what happened. But what happens when you are gone, and there is no one left to remember? (346)
History happens.
In one of his fictional sections, a character considers, "The possibility of disruption to the daily routine. Nothing would happen. But it might. As soon as something is different, something might happen" (355). I thought his fictional segments an interesting attempt at telling the history with an emotional aspect. Not that his non-fiction was devoid of sentiment. Just another method.
On 384, he's back to a painting by Friedrich that he described in the opening chapter. Full circle.
387 "If there were ghosts on this shore, here at the water's edge, it was because we had brought them with us. Those ghosts are indeed our responsibility, and they will liven in our memories of this place and others, and in the stories we choose to tell."
January 7, 2018
I've met Paul personally a few times at literary events in Berlin, and he has published my work as part of his Elsewhere: A Journal of Place project, so I will try to be as unbiased as possible!
To be honest, I wasn't excited about discovering every single figure and place, but the fact that Paul writes and explores with unfailing, sincere attentiveness -- seeing potential in towns or areas that most would disregard -- is commendable, making many sections unputdownable.
As he concludes, the only real way to read a place is by keeping in mind what we already know, which will differ between individuals, of course. For him, it is the personal connection of his partner's childhood that allows him to uncover layers of German Baltic (ex-GDR) towns that get overlooked or even a bad rap these days, alongside his keen interest in local history. And doesn't that speak to the fact I was interested in some chapters more than others? It got me thinking about the course of my own life that has made me curious about certain moments in history.
Inspiring words that will certainly change the way I travel! I need to get up to that part of the country now.
To be honest, I wasn't excited about discovering every single figure and place, but the fact that Paul writes and explores with unfailing, sincere attentiveness -- seeing potential in towns or areas that most would disregard -- is commendable, making many sections unputdownable.
As he concludes, the only real way to read a place is by keeping in mind what we already know, which will differ between individuals, of course. For him, it is the personal connection of his partner's childhood that allows him to uncover layers of German Baltic (ex-GDR) towns that get overlooked or even a bad rap these days, alongside his keen interest in local history. And doesn't that speak to the fact I was interested in some chapters more than others? It got me thinking about the course of my own life that has made me curious about certain moments in history.
Inspiring words that will certainly change the way I travel! I need to get up to that part of the country now.
September 15, 2017
Ghosts on the Shore is a hugely enjoyable journey that is at once personal, historical, and biographical (of the landscape, its inhabitants, and the events that have shaped it over recent centuries).
Inspired to investigate the area by photos handed to him by his wife's parents, Paul Scraton expertly weaves a family history with Germany's sometimes enlightened and sometimes dark past. What he delivers is an atmospheric travelogue of fascinating stories.
This is a beautifully crafted exploration of a brooding German Baltic coast little known to those of us reading in the English language yet populated over time by familiar figures, such as authors Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Gunther Grass, and Hans Falada. It is as informative as it is joyful.
Inspired to investigate the area by photos handed to him by his wife's parents, Paul Scraton expertly weaves a family history with Germany's sometimes enlightened and sometimes dark past. What he delivers is an atmospheric travelogue of fascinating stories.
This is a beautifully crafted exploration of a brooding German Baltic coast little known to those of us reading in the English language yet populated over time by familiar figures, such as authors Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Gunther Grass, and Hans Falada. It is as informative as it is joyful.
August 4, 2018
A thoughtful blend of travel, memoir, history, and reportage that's actually also wonderful as a crash course in German history, literature, and culture overall well before World War II and in the former GDR, two things most Americans (ahem; and I live here) and few Brits know a lot about. Ultimately it's an examination of cultural memory and enduring collective responsibility in the face of processes that work, intentionally or not, to obscure or erase the past. The title is a bit misleading - the entire German coast is not explored, but rather the former East German segment of the Baltic coast.
June 22, 2018
Ich bin auf Ghosts on the Shore gestoßen, weil ich selbst ein paar Familiengeister an der Ostsee & in Ostpreußen spuken habe & selbst öfters dort bin und mir die Fragen stelle, die sich auch der Autor stellt. Sein Blickwinkel als Engländer ermöglicht ihm Perspektiven, die ich nicht einnehmen kann, ohne mich gegen die Geschichte blind zu stellen. Das macht das aBuch manchmal auch befremdlich - in a good way. Leseempfehlung für alle, die die Ostsee lieben, WG Sebald oder eine verlorene Familiengeschichte mit sich herum tragen.
November 5, 2020
Paul Scraton takes us on travels along Germany's Baltic coast where some of the darkest stories of history played out. Inspired by his wife's collection of family photographs and her memories growing up he explores the stories of folklore and the haunting history of the Baltics.
This was such an interesting read I knew of the Baltics engrossing history but Scraton writes in such a riveting way that takes you on a journey across the coarse seas with his attention to detail as he combines travel, memoir and heritage to explore Germany's history and culture.
This was such an interesting read I knew of the Baltics engrossing history but Scraton writes in such a riveting way that takes you on a journey across the coarse seas with his attention to detail as he combines travel, memoir and heritage to explore Germany's history and culture.
March 19, 2025
I enjoyed this immensely BECAUSE it speaks to political and economic developments in financially-poorer German seaside towns. It's not centred around these themes, but the thread is there. I was worried this would be travel writing that is overly sentimental, as it describes somewhat fictionalised family circumstances. But what better place to start than the nuclear family and its politics? A great read and a great introduction to cultural figureheads (some controversial) in German history.
August 18, 2024
The idea seemed to be brilliant - to describe not too much known eastern german seaside from the perspective of foreigner - it neans no German no Polish. Generally, nice mix od views and remarks, randomly loaded with historical facts, but quite erratic at the same time.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 4, 2018
Exceptional. Author tells the story of his visits along the Baltic coast, and wrestled with the German legacy at each stop. Extremely well written; there are times that his writing is almost lyrical. I was impressed with his style - he includes lots of personal thoughts, but also pulls from key German literature and history, and even works in some chapters of fiction. (Because he throws in fiction, I think I can say that I’ve never read anything quite like this before.) I may want to read this again, it is so packed with information and thoughtful questioning. Engaging, insightful, educational. I would recommend this to anyone.
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