Filip Piotrowicz - We Just Stayed

Pamoja Press 2026

We Just Stayed is a journey into the multi-layered history of Masuria, a story about discovering one's own identity through an intimate encounter with what is different, unwanted, and close to being forgotten.

The houses stood empty, and you could take whichever one you wanted. The former residents were already gone. New ones were arriving from different parts of the country. Among them were my grandparents, who told me about it.

We weren't taught in school about the expulsion of the German population. Everyone I knew there was Polish. Over time, I began to realize what it truly meant to stay. And I sought out those who did.

These meetings allowed me to trace the marks of a culture that built the villages and towns I knew so well, and changed the way I look at the familiar places of my childhood.