Ohio - Ohio Chapter Kościuszko Foundation 2018 Symposium


Ohio Chapter Kościuszko Foundation 2018 Symposium

Jews and Jewishness in Postcommunist Poland: Past Steps Forward, Present Steps Backward?

Dr. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska

and

Ghosts of the Past, Challenges of the Future: Contemporary Polish-Ukrainian Dilemmas

Dr. Tomasz Pudłocki



1:00-2:30 pm, April 23, 2018


The Mandel Center 

11402 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, 44106 

Room 115


Polish-Jewish relations have been far more complex and positive than the stereotypes of the antisemitic Pole and the victimized Jew suggest. We will reflect upon the transformations since 1989, but especially recent events since 2015, including a march on Independence Day last November and the recent passage of a new law which appears to censure history. What has this meant, what might this mean for Jews and Jewishness in Poland, in light of a 1,000-year history and the Polish society today?

Dr. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska Dr. Annamaria Orla-Bukowska is a social anthropologist in the Institute of Sociology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Dr. Orla-Bukowska was a 1999 Koerner Holocaust Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies, a 2004 Yad Vashem Fellow in Jerusalem, and a 2009 as well as 2018 Skalny Center Fellow at the University of Rochester. She is the co-editor (with Robert Cherry) of Rethinking Poles and Jews: Troubled Past, Brighter Future (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).


Polish-Ukrainian relations have been determined not only by contemporary issues but, first of all, by history. Recent legislation which may affect the public understanding of war crimes is just one example of recent tensions. Yet Poland is the first EU country where many Ukrainians go to find a job and two million Ukrainians live permanently in Poland. Linguistic, cultural, and social similarities are often much stronger than historical policy and the messages that come from officials in Warsaw and Kiev. The positions of both countries on historical, political, and social issues will be the main topic of the talk.

Dr. Tomasz Pudłocki

Dr. Tomasz Pudłocki is Associate Professor in the Institute of History, Jagiellonian University, Krakow (Poland). He specializes in the history of Galicia, women's history, and intellectual history. His latest book, Ambasadorzy idei: Wkład intelektualistów w promowanie pozytywnego wizerunku Polski w Wielkiej Brytanii w latach 1918-1939 (Ambassadors of an Idea: The Contributions of Intellectuals to a Positive View of Poland in Great Britain, 1918-1939), was published in 2015. He has received grants from the Kosciuszko Foundation, and he was a Fulbright Scholar at Daemen College in Amherst, New York (2015-2016).


Co-sponsored by the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University

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