Poland Project Year-End Report

In 2013, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs awarded a generous grant to the program on “Multicultural Poland: The Coexistence of Polish and Jewish Cultures in the 20^th Century.” This program was developed as part of the exchange agreement between the East European State Higher School in Przemyśl (Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Wschodnioeuropejska w Przemyślu, or PWSW) and Daemen College in Amherst, New York. The formal Memorandum of Agreement between Daemen College and PWSW was signed in December 2012. This agreement was the result of extensive discussions between the institutions, which were initiated by Ms. Agata Obratańska (PWSW International Relations Office Coordinator) and Dr. Andrew Kier Wise (Associate Professor of History at Daemen College). These discussions began in July 2012 on the PWSW campus in Przemyśl during the first meeting of the European Central Slavic Conference, and continued in the United States during a visit to Daemen College by Ms. Obratańska in October 2012.

The project in July 2013 was made in cooperation with Państwowa Wyższa Szkoła Wschodnioeuropejska w Przemyślu (the East European State Higher School in Przemyśl); AND Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk w Przemyślu im. Kazimierza Marii Osińskiego w Przemyślu (Przemyśl Society of Friends of Learning of Kazimierz Maria Osiński).

The project was co-financed by the Department of Public and Cultural Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the framework of the Cooperation in Public Diplomacy 2013 grant.

Regarding all blog entries from 2013 related to Poland and/or the website that features the cemetery mapping project: The publication expresses exclusively the views of the authors and cannot be identified with the official stance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.

The program on “Multicultural Poland: The Coexistence of Polish and Jewish Cultures in the 20^th Century” was planned and coordinated by Ms. Agata Obratańska, Ms Agnieszka Bielec (PWSW Institute of Political Science and Regional Policy Coordinator and Lecturer), and Mr. Tomasz Olejarz (PWSW Institute of Political Science and Regional Policy Vice Director and Lecturer). These two colleges were also joined by two important NGO partners: the Society for the Friends of Learning in Przemyśl (Towarzystwo Przyjaciół Nauk w Przemyślu, or TPN) and Remembrance and Reconciliation, Inc. (a US-based organization led by Dr. John Hartman and dedicated to the preservation of Jewish culture in Przemyśl). The past president of TPN, Dr. Tomasz Pudłocki, and Dr. John Hartman both served as lecturers for the program. In addition, Dr. Hartman oriented students to the Service Learning component of the program related to the preservation of the Jewish cemetery in Przemyśl.

The theme of the program (“Multicultural Poland: The Coexistence of Polish and Jewish Cultures in the 20^th Century”) provided the focus for educating students about global awareness and diversity awareness. The lectures and tours of the program focused on promoting intercultural awareness. In addition, our program emphasized civic engagement in the Service Learning component that involved the historic preservation of the Jewish cemetery in Przemyśl. Daemen and PWSW students learned about the history of the coexistence of Poles and Jews in Przemyśl by working on a “mapping” project that will result in a location guide of tombstones for visitors to the Jewish cemetery.

With the help of Mike Berta (Director of the Experimental Classroom, Daemen College), a website has been developed for the ongoing mapping project. Click here https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zcrV0jNRCVEk.k9zeK7XUkkuQ  for a link to the Google Map website that we are building. This is an ongoing project, and new photos and information will be added in the future.

The website that features the cemetery mapping project expresses exclusively the views of the authors and cannot be identified with the official stance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland.