By Maddie Hartog “After every war someone has to tidy up. Things won’t pick themselves up, after all.” (The End and the Beginning, Wislawa Szymborska) If you ask me about my study abroad, I will say I am studying in Wroclaw, Poland, where the people speak Polish, pierogies are abundant, and Zabka convenience stores can […]
By Suryansh Singh Situated alongside the serpentine banks of the River Spree, Treptower Park Soviet War Memorial stands as an ornament placed within the region’s natural beauty, adding to the altar of the history of the city of Berlin. While many of the other remnants of the city’s Soviet past have been reclaimed through spray-paint graffiti […]
By Abigail Wright In the final stretch of our visit to Birkenau, former Nazi concentration and extermination camp, we knelt down and beheld the natural unearthing of history, of a story that could fit in the palm of our hands. At ground level, rusted silverware and charred pots piled into a glass enclosure with other […]
By Sofia DaCruz Walking through the streets of Amsterdam with my friend Emma I admired the rows of houses lined along canals, and the leaves covering the streets. As I brushed the leaves while I walked, I noticed a glimmer of brass which I recognized as a Stolperstein or “stumbling stone”. Together we bent down […]
By Andrew Emerson Pope John Paul II is a figure whose legacy continues to loom over the modern state of Poland and the expanded Catholic world. When you travel to Poland you will feel him looming over you. As the statues and portraits erected in the squares and hung upon the street corners seem to follow […]
By Charlotte Goodman It’s a beautiful day. You’re walking outside. Listening to the sound of the birds chirping and the gravel shuffle under your feet. Taking a deep breath fills your nose with the smell of freshly cut, maintained grass. Your eyes focus on a butterfly that whizzes past you. As you follow the butterfly’s path, […]
By Leanne Rivera During the Second World War, countless children were affected by brutal violence. They endured physical suffering, danger, catastrophe, exploitation, and loss. A multitude of children tried to flee but couldn’t; some witnessed a loved one’s death, and sadly enough, others were forced to participate in the violence that surrounded them. Before coming […]
By Sierra Kaplan Every Rynek can leave the average tourist entranced by beauty and history. Buildings of all hues and intricacies decorate all four sides of each historic market square, enmeshing and transporting the sightseer into the distant past. To be in a market square is to concentrate on the details and traces of the […]
By Kennedy Snyder Throughout our time on the traveling seminar, I have found myself repeatedly becoming confused and uncertain about the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the World Heritage Sites. I had so many questions that returned at the many sites we visited. Three sites in Poland particularly caught my attention: Malbork […]
By Ian Eisenbrand In Polish, Kotwica means anchor. It is also the term used to describe an enduring, highly contested symbol of Polish resistance dating back to World War II. The Kotwica was conceived in Warsaw in 1942 as an emblem for the Home Army, the leading underground resistance movement in Poland during German occupation. During […]