By Connor Arneson Throughout our travels in Poland, we just can’t seem to escape the current government’s war on history. For the last 6 years, Poland’s government has been relentless in its attempts to whitewash Poland’s past, and, for the last 6 years, historians have been relentless in their attempts to combat the government’s misinformation. The […]
By Sophie Creager-Roberts On November 12, 1989 –three days after the fall of the Berlin Wall– German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the first freely elected Polish Prime Minister, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, embraced in the courtyard of the former von Moltke family estate. This site in Lower Silesia is where German dissidents founded the Nazi resistance movement called […]
By Harrison Vogt The tale of an industry entering a town, extracting all its resources, and leaving with a permanent scar on its region is a narrative found across the globe. Mining practices may remove whole mountain tops to extract finite resources. Mass-scale farming pollutes the local environment with pesticides and animal waste in local water […]
By Capriana Cormier When people learn about the Holocaust, they learn about Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II – Birkenau. This history dominates what we know about the Holocaust and leaves other concentration and extermination camps invisible to the rest of the world. After our two-week traveling seminar, I had a lot to think about. I […]
By Anna Sebree Poland is a beautiful and complicated country. It is a country that boasts intellects, artists, and revolutionaries, while simultaneously emitting a cold chill of emptiness that seeps through the abandoned synagogues, former ghettos, and camp memorials. There is an insurmountable feeling of loss that cannot be shaken as the country grapples with […]
By Connor Arneson Like most other right-wing governments, nationalism is a key ingredient for Poland’s ruling party. Without it, many of their ceremonies would appear unnecessary, many of their policies would appear selfish, but most importantly, many of their voters would disappear. Courting Poland’s conservative voters requires an upkeep of nationalism, and since this voting […]
By Ella Farrell The decision to spend a semester in Poland was not one I took lightly. I felt disconnected from my family history, cultural history, and religion as an American Jew. Coming here was an opportunity to explore who I am and how these spheres of my life continue to shape my identity today. Being […]
By Sophie Creager-Roberts Since the end of World War II, Poland has grappled with how to properly memorialize not only the sites of atrocities committed by the Nazi regime but also how to recognize the places where Jewish life once flourished. The stakes involved in managing these sites cannot be overlooked. Reaching a consensus often requires […]
By Max Ditchek Goldberg Preface: I first began writing this piece on October 8th, 2021, around a month prior to today’s date. Since the second I stepped foot on Polish soil, I was severely underprepared for the demanding and catastrophic emotional journey that the last two months have taken me on. I came here as a […]
By Aaron Alonso The Roma people have long faced persecution within Europe’s borders tracing as far back as to the reign of the Habsburg empire. Their lifestyle has long been an issue for European countries for being “nomadic” and having an “uncivilized” way of life. The persecution of the Roma people intensified after the end […]