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Paper short abstract

2024 marked the 900th anniversary of the Christianisation of Pomerania by Otto of Bamberg. To celebrate this anniversary, the Via Ottoniana was mapped out. Although the Via Ottoniana was not intended to promote reconciliation, it has become part of the process of coming to terms with the past.

Paper long abstract

2024 marked the 900th anniversary of the Christianisation of Pomerania by Otto of Bamberg. To celebrate this anniversary, the Via Ottoniana was mapped out. This is a pilgrimage route passing through places visited by Otto during his two missions to the region in 1124 and 1128. The route lies on both sides of the modern-day Polish–German border. A free online guide to the route was created, and several pilgrimages were organised in 2024 to cover some sections of the Via Ottoniana. While this type of pilgrimage has not become a visible element of the Pomeranian religious landscape, the preparation of the route sparked discussions about the region’s past.

Interestingly, while the overarching narrative of the anniversary celebrations referred to the Middle Ages and Otto’s significance to the European monarchies of that period, the Christianisation of Pomerania was also viewed through the lens of the region’s 20th-century history. The World War II memory and the settlement of the so-called Regained Territories cast a shadow over the celebrations. Otto was seen not only as a Catholic saint, but also, somewhat anachronistically, as a German. Although the Via Ottoniana was not intended to promote reconciliation, its partial overlap with the Way of St James and its contemporary European context have become part of the process of coming to terms with the past and reinterpreting the region's difficult memory.