I had seen this when it first came out and had forgotten. When I had a chance to watch the series again, I realised that I had watched it before but stuck with it as I didn't remember the plots and had enjoyed it first time round.
The tragic recent history of the area is the real star of the show, the German times when Silesia was a part of that country, the communist era under a brutal Stalinism, the tragedy of the war and the disappearance of the Jewish community as well as murders and imprisonment of political opponents. Another overarching theme is that of a shadowy organlegging ring operating in the city where the Commission is based, the former German Breslau, now Polish Wroclaw. The organleggers also have spread their tentacles abroad.
Sponsored in part by the tourist board of Lower Silesia, the series show the most beautiful and picturesque parts of the area, it's castles and mansions, the countryside, the well-kept and impressive streets of the provincial capital. The grim Soviet era council housing estates and ugly government buildings don't feature at all. Nonetheless, the dreadful atrocities of the past are portrayed unflinchingly, perhaps as a means to show how Silesia has changed - after all, not only were all the Jews murdered but millions of ethnic Germans were expelled after the war without compensation and replaced by Poles who, in turn, had been expelled by the USSR from the Ukraine.
The three main characters were all convincing in their own ways and complemented each other in skills and knowledge. In no wise is this a "whodunnit" series. Even if one were familiar with the history of the area, the clues come from dusty archives and the memories of the elderly, in the main. It's not Agatha Christie. The off-duty lives of the characters was less convincing. I had particular difficulty in believing that the character of Maciej Stasinski, sixty if he's a day, managed to pull so many nubiles episode after episode. However, this didn't detract from the overall excellence of the stories and themes of solving ancient crimes as well as some new ones which impinged on the investigations.
I'm extremely pleased that I have watched this twice, it was worth it.
