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On September 9, 2025 we launched the Exploring Central Europe: History, Memory, and Identity Across Borders, a semester-long program organized in partnership with the University of Lower Silesia in Wroclaw, Poland and Syracuse University. Together with our students, we begin our journey through which we explore the memories of conflict and ongoing processes of reconciliation in Central Europe.
Central Europe: Liberal Reform in Communist Regimes
By Sarah Mowrer
Oftentimes, the conditions of living as a citizen in a nation with a communist regime under the yolk of the Soviet Union made both the present and the future seem bleak. Rights and liberties were severely restricted; corruption was rampant, and economic crises meant lacking material products and available food. more
Polish History, Memory and Identity in a Rebuilt Warsaw
By Jack Yoon
It is well known that Poland was the ultimate victim of World War II as in 1939, Nazi Germany, along with the Soviet Union, violently invaded, enslaved, and destroyed the Second Polish Republic. The brutality Poland experienced while under German occupation could best be described by Warsaw, Poland’s mighty capital. more
Reading is Freedom: Censorship as a Symptom of Authoritarianism
By Ella Roerden
Throughout history, authoritarian regimes and dictatorships have attempted to use many different methods to create an atmosphere of fear, enabling them to consolidate power and control the people they rule over. One such method that has been used frequently in the past century, lasting into the modern day, is the censorship or banning of written material. more
Poland through the lens of a Tech Geek
By SY Cheng
Throughout the semester, we have studied the history of Central Europe in depth, examining its impact on modern borders and cultural identities. From the travel seminars to my personal initiative to visit sites of interest, the experience has exceeded my expectations. more
By Sarah Vallejo
On our last day in Berlin, I was passing through an unremarkable area when I overheard a tour guide mention it had once been the site of Hitler’s Chancellor House. I was taken aback, amazed by how the Nazi past persists in Berlin despite its ideological and architectural transformations. more
Uprising and the Importance of Resistance: Lessons from Central Europe
By Mason Burley
When we talk about resistance against totalitarian and tyrannical rule, it is easy for the idea to feel distant, abstract, or belonging to another era. Many people in the United States, who are far from the landscapes of Warsaw, Gdańsk, or Prague, might assume that the major political struggles against dictatorship took place long ago or only in places unlike their own. more
German Colonialism: The Forgotten Plight of the African Continent
By Mason Burley
The global movement to decolonize knowledge has increasingly broadened the scope of historical responsibility, compelling former imperial powers to confront the intellectual, cultural, and material legacies of empire embedded in their universities, museums, and political institutions. Yet even as the conversation has expanded to include subtler forms of epistemic and institutional colonization, Germany remains strikingly marginal in contemporary debates about colonialism. more
After the End: Analyzing Jewish Life in Post-Holocaust Central Europe
By Blake Wilson
In 1945, following the liberation of the last operating concentration camp and the capitulation of Germany that ended the war in Europe, the global Jewish population was permanently scarred. The destruction and murder of European Jews was so complete that two of every three Jews in Europe did not see the end of the war. more
‘Greifers’ and Extreme Means of Survival
By Sarah Vallejo
I feel like I’ve “seen it all” between our lessons on the rise of the Nazi regime, our visits to three former concentration and death camps, and our walks through Gdansk, Warsaw, Prague, and more. I don’t experience the same initial surprise that I once did when learning about the horrors of those decades. more
Looking at Berlin Memory Politics: In What Ways Does It Succeed?
By Hannah Pierce
When my class and I visited Berlin, I was surprised to see monuments to the city’s past wrongs everywhere. Everywhere I looked, there were stepping stones to commemorate the deportation of the city’s Jewish residents, signs about historical discriminatory laws, and monuments to past atrocities. more
Repurposing: Structures from One Era to the Next
By Sarah Mowrer
Studying Central Europe in this program often involves being in the same space while recognizing that it has undergone several fundamental changes throughout history. Space is a geographical location that exists in our minds through observation and memory of physical remnants. more
Three Lives of Wroclaw as Poland’s Technology Hub
By SY Cheng
Did you know? Wroclaw is referred to as the “Silicon Valley of Poland”? Upon arriving in Wroclaw, I noticed multiple big companies in the city, notably Google near the Plac Bema, Toyota and Nokia, which we pass by daily on Tram 23. Seeing those big names in Wroclaw shocked me a bit initially. more
By Blake Wilson
The Biskupin archaeological site in Poland is tied to the Lusatian peoples found in Central and Eastern Europe from around the 1250s BCE. Famous for their fine jewelry and other burial goods such as deformed blades, the Lusatians are a member of the broader Pan-European Urnfield cultures known for the cremation of their dead and then burying the urns in the hundreds in large open fields. more
Weirdness is Revolutionary: Punks in the GDR
By Cara Williams
Prior to my stay in Berlin, I had low expectations for the city. I was told to expect a lot of concrete and prepared myself for a drab city covered in haunted memorials. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find that although the city blocks were not always vibrant, the people certainly were. more
Rebuilding Berlin’s Palace: Erasure of Identity or Another Step Towards Berlin’s Reunification?
By Jack Yoon
In the words of Karl Scheffler, a German art critic in 1910, “Berlin is a city condemned always to become, never to be”. Through his words, Berlin is a city built through constant change, whose identity is never fully being something, but rather always becoming, continuously moving forwards and backwards across time. more
Identities of Lost Children: Consequences of Authoritarian Violence Persist Decades After Occurrence
By Ella Roerden
As the Nazis saw it, the Czech population needed punishing. Czech underground forces were responsible for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, one of Hitler’s most trusted and most valuable officials who also served as the “Protector” of Bohemia and Moravia, the Nazi-occupied region that today is the Czech Republic. more
By Jack Yoon
When studying the Holocaust, there is a generalized narrative that all Jews were either sent to a camp, trapped in a ghetto, or hidden away from society. In our understanding of the Holocaust today, there is little recognition of Jews who changed their identity as a means to survive. more
The Unspoken Cryptography History of Poles in World War II
By SY Cheng
When I first visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum, all I expected was photographs, documents, uniforms, and resistance narratives. I was surprised at the extent of how the uprising was backed by early communicative technology and wartime intelligences. more
“What Do You Think of the Polish People?” Examining Polish Historical Heroism
By Hannah Pierce
One day in Wrocław, as I was riding home from frisbee practice in my teammate Piotr’s car, he asked me a question: “What do you think of the Polish people?” This was not my first time receiving this question. more
Between Memory and the Present: Seeing Polish Life Through an Outsider’s Eyes
By Mason Burley
A tram passes by me as I sit down to write this. Its wheels screech as it barrels down the track, moving hundreds of people as they go about their day. These very tramways and cobblestone streets once were hosts to Nazi soldiers and carriages, and more recently, bore the weight of Soviet dread and power. more
“A Real Pain” and Memory in Poland
By Cara Williams
Traveling to another country or studying abroad conjured images of a carefree vacation, trying new foods, or learning interesting facts. A semester in Poland, however, is darker – though the country is beautiful and the people are kind, the land is haunted by memories of a painful past. more
Quantifying Tragedies: What Happens When You Tell Rather Than Show
By Sarah Vallejo
Tucked away at the end of the Warsaw Rising Museum is a 3D film called City of Ruins that doesn’t quite match the flow of the museum up to that point. Prior to this film, the museum weaves a complex narrative of resistance, death, power, and destruction that made up the 1944 Warsaw Uprising led by the Polish Underground. more
Translation: The Power to Shape Recollection & Relationships
By Sarah Mowrer
One of the most daunting aspects of traveling to a foreign country is being unable to speak or understand the native language. This obstacle, however, was sidestepped in my education during the travel seminar through Poland due to a powerful tool: translation. more
Beyond the Legend: Beloved City Symbols Warp the Narrative
By Ella Roerden
Worldwide, regions of all sorts have recognizable symbols they claim as their own. Oftentimes, these symbols are some type of animal or creature. In most cases, these symbols have become sources of pride for the residents of any given place: something to unify behind. more