Past events

Jerzy Giedroyc and his Achievements - a panel discussion and exhibition on the legacy of "KULTURA" and its books

Sunday, October 6, 2019, at 5:00pm

The Kosciuszko Foundation has a distinct pleasure to invite you to "Jerzy Giedroyc and his Achievements" – a panel discussion and exhibition presenting the legacy of "KULTURA" and its books. The panel featuring experts in the field of East-Europen Studies: George G. Grabowicz, Professor of Ukrainian Literature at Harvard Univeristy, Dr. Pawel Kowal, a political scientist and Professor at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and Irena Lasota, journalist and the President of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe will elaborate on the contribution of Jerzy Giedroyc towards promoting the mutual cooperation between Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. The event is presented in cooperation with the Kultura Literary Institute, Paris Kultura Foundation, the American Friends of the University of Warsaw and Paweł Bąkowski, exhibit curator.

Jerzy Giedroyc and his Achievements

An exhibition and panel discussion featuring: 

Sunday, October 6, 2019, 5:00 p.m. 

The Kosciuszko Foundation: 15 E 65th Street, New York, NY 10065

Wine reception will follow the panel discussions. Admission: $10, KF Members - free of charge. Space is limited. Registration required.

Featured panelists: 

George G. Grabowicz is the Dmytro Čyževs'kyj Professor of Ukrainian Literature in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard University. He received his B.A. from Yale University (1965) and his PhD in comparative literature from Harvard (1975), where he was also Junior Fellow in the Society of Fellows (1971-1974). 

Professor Grabowicz has been Chairman of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Harvard (1983-1988) and Director of Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute (1989-1996).  He was one of the founders and President (1991-1993) of the International Association for Ukrainian Studies and Chairman of the American Committee of Slavists (1983-1988).   He is a member of the Executive Committees of the Ukrainian Research Institute and the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard.  From 2012-2018 he was President of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in the US.  Since 2015 he also heads the Shevchenko Institute of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US.

In 1997 he founded and since then has been editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian monthly Krytyka which has become a leading intellectual journal both in Ukraine and in Eastern Europe, with eminent contributors not only from Ukraine, but from Poland, Russia and the West as well. In its editorial policy Krytyka has often sought to emulate the revisionism of the Paris-based Polish journal Kultura.  It has published books and articles on Poland and Polish-Ukrainian relations, co-sponsored a conference on Jerzy Giedroyc in 2006 and has received several awards from the Polish side for its contributions to the Polish-Ukrainian dialogue.

Paweł Kowal is a political scientist, historian, columnist, expert on Eastern policy, co-founder of the Museum of the Warsaw Rising, Professor in the Institute of Political Studies at the Polish Academy of Sciences, postdoctoral research fellow at the College of Europe Natolin, lecturer at the University of Warsaw and Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Research Station of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Kyiv. In 2005-09 he was a Member of the Polish Parliament (Sejm), in 2006-07 Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was also a member of the National Security Council. In 2009-14 he was a Member of the European Parliament and its Foreign Affairs Committee, and Chairman of the EU delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Commission. He is a member of the editorial board of the bi-monthly "New Eastern Europe" and of the Supervisory Board of Alwernia SA. He is the author of numerous publications on the transformation processes in Central Europe, among his most important works are the books Koniec systemu władzy. Polityka ekipy gen. Wojciecha Jaruzelskiego w latach 1986-1989 (2012) and (with Mariusz Cieślik), Jaruzelski. Życie paradoksalne (2015), Testament Prometeusza. Źródła polityki wschodniej III Rzeczpospolitej. (2018)

Irena Lasota is a journalist, political activist, and president of the Institute for Democracy in Eastern Europe (IDEE). Formed in 1985, as a follow-up of the New York Committee in Support of Solidarity, IDEE developed innovative programs of civic education and civic participation, introduced regional networking, and supported independent media in 22 post-communist countries. Lasota left Poland in 1970 and came to the USA as a political refugee. She has an M.Phil. in Political Science from Columbia University, and taught political science at Yale and Fordham Universities. She was the co-editor of "Uncaptive Minds", a journal of information and analysis on Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. A freelance journalist for Radio Free Europe for 16 years, she is also author and co-author of numerous articles and reports on Eastern Europe, and editor of several series of pamphlets and books on democracy.

When in 1947 a small group of Polish é·mi·grés took up residence in MaisonsLaffitte near Paris, few would have anticipated that their home would become a key Polish political powerhouse, forging a vision of Poland free of communism and censorship. The communist regime in Warsaw came to view the monthly journal "Kultura" and the books published by the Literary Institute as the foremost threat to its existence.

Jerzy Giedroyc, the founder of the Institute and editor in chief of "Kultura" and its associated book publishing program, belongs to that select category of preeminent Poles who devoted their lives to the struggle for an independent, democratic Poland.

His contribution to Polish politics and letters is immense. "Kultura," of which 637 issues were published over half a century, assumed pride of place among Polish journals and exceptional writers such as Czesław Miłosz, Witold Gobrowicz and Józef Czapski all remained resolutely loyal to Giedroyc throughout. The Institute published nearly 400 titles during its existence, including works by Arthur Koestler, Graham Greene, Simone Weil, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and George Orwell. Their subject matter and range provoked reflection, and elicited openness and tolerance of viewpoint. Moreover, they shaped the literary tastes of several generations of Poles.

At bedrock, the aim of "Jerzy Giedroyc and his Achievements" is to offer an accessible exhibition representing, through book, the journey- and the whole range of activities – which Jerzy Giedroyc and his associates undertook in the years 1946 – 2000.

Wojciech Sikora, Chairman of the Instytut Literacki and The Paris Kultura Foundation

Sponsor of the Exhibition catalogue:  

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