Ballad About Silesia

A Ballad About Silesia is a historical fiction story set in the city of Katowice, featuring Silesians and their lives across the whole 20th century. It takes places during events such as the Silesian Uprisings, the dead center of Polish People’s Republic, and the fall of communism in Poland. Many of the characters are queer; Ballad shows their daily lives and problems which the citizens of Giszowiec face.
Ballad is divided into 4 arcs – the 1920s, 1950s, 1980s and the 1990s. Every one of them has its own protagonist and even if none of them is blood-related, they always have something in common.
The 1920s arc focuses on the citizens of Gieschewald during and right after the Silesian Uprisings and the plebiscite; the 1950s arc is about those who survived World War 2 and how they try to rebuild not only their houses, but also lives; the 1980s arc features the life of Michał Cegielnik, a steiger from the “Wieczorek” coal mine, who’s also a gay man in the times of Communist Poland; the 1990s arc tells the story of members of a band called “Blind the Wind” who try to get at least a bit popular while embracing their Silesian heritage.