Jak napisać ludową historię po niemiecku, czyli o cichym pożegnaniu chłopstwa (na marginesie książki: Ewald Frie, Ein Hof und elf Geschwister. Der stille Abschied vom bäuerlichen Leben in Deutschland, C.H. Beck, München 2023, ss. 191)

How to Write a People’s History in German. A Quiet Farewell to the Peasantry This review article summarizes and evaluates a prize-winning book Ein Hof und Elf Geschwister. Der stille Abschied vom bäuerlichen Leben in Deutschland by a German historian Ewald Frie (C. H. Beck 2023) framing it in the broader context of German historiography in the 20th century. That monograph is an outstanding case of microhistorical research on the post-war existence and gradual decline of peasant culture in Western Germany. In the paper, I argue, that by referring to the history of his own family and the usage of oral history and other source materials, the author succeeded in presenting the multidimensionality of that process. Ewald Frie offers a complex picture of family life that includes economic activity, spatial dimension, inter- and intragenerational relations, religiosity, beliefs and rituals, or social mobility. What strikes a reader of the book is the fact of the long-lasting coexistence of technological and capitalist modernity with traditional lifestyles and the value system of the peasant family of the 1950s and 1960s Münsterland. The book effectively uses the research tools developed by German history of everyday-life (Alltaggeschichte), microhistory and oral history. In the context of the discussion over “the people’s history of Poland” and the global transformation of peasant culture, I suggest that the book by Erie might serve as an inspiration and example of an empathetic and socially engaged history of the peasant life.