Bogdan BOBOWSKi
(University of Zielona Gora, Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Zielona Gora,
Poland)

Keywords: Groß Iser,displacement,remote sensing,LIDAR,archaeology of XX-th Century

Abstract:
The cross-border village of Groß Iser was located in the south-western part of Silesia in Poland, in the Izera Mountains, at an altitude of 840-860 m above sea level. In the vicinity of a non-existent village, the Polish-Czech border runs today and the area is referred to as the Mecca of MTB cycling in the summer and cross-country skiing in the winter. The village of Groß Iser, was removed from the human settlements after II World War. Place was founded by the religious refugee from Czech – Tomasz in 1620. After the First World War, there were 43 residential houses, 2 hostels, 2 inns, customs office buildings, school and a fire station. From June 1945, the population was displaced. The border region was controlled by the army. Abandoned buildings were penetrated and plundered short time by Red Army and then for many years by Polish People’s Army soldiers. There are several theories about why the village was destroyed. Certainly the accelerator was the proximity of the state border. Perhaps it was blown up by Polish sappers. There is also a thread of artillery exercises. It is certain, however, that total destruction took place within 7 years in the period from 1953 to 1960. A small amount of historical archives does not help in the reconstruction of the history of the settlement. The launch of my project included field verification of LIDAR data and prospection using the UAV device. My paper will be based on the analysis of historical sources and aerial photographs, LIDAR data and fieldwalking. The settlement, located in a remote area, survived the turmoil of several wars but was destroyed by political decisions and boldness of simple soldiers. It is not easy to recall this story when the children of the destroyers are still alive.

Relevance for the conference: Settlement in the Izera Hall has never been studied because it was a politically sensitive topic
Relevance for the session: Problems of studying monuments destroyed by local authorities and people in the past
Innovation: Modest historical and archaeological research on mountain settlements at the cross-border regions
References:
• Tomasz Rzeczycki, Utracone Sudety, tropem miejsc które zniszczył PRL, Kraków 2014.