Regeneration: Jewish Life in Poland

The Elizabeth C. and Peter Tower Gallery at Daemen College will host the American premier of the photography exhibit, Re-generation. Jewish Life in Poland featuring photos of Chuck Fishman. An opening reception for the exhibit will be held on September 12th from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m at the gallery located in the Haberman Gacioch Arts Center at Daemen College (4380 Main Street, Amherst NY).  The exhibit will be on display from September 12 - October 11, 2019.  Regular gallery hours are 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The exhibit and events surrounding it are free and open to the public

The extensive exhibit documents the rebirth of Jewish life in Poland, featuring photos which span over 40 years beginning in 1975. It provides one of the most comprehensive records of European Jewry of the last 50 years and the enormous impact the 1989 rise of the Third Polish Republic had on the revival of Jewish communities and the revival of the consciousness of history among the wider community in Poland. Once home to the largest Jewish community in  Europe, Germany’s 1939 invasion and Hitler’s Final Solution virtually obliterated the Jewish community and the rich Jewish culture Poland once knew.  Journalist Ruth Ellen Gruber notes that Mr. Fishman set out in the 1970s and 80s to capture the “final chapter” of this storied 1000 year history and has joyfully failed as he is “now chronicling an expanding, multi-faceted and ever-unfolding story - and long may he do so!” 

RELATED EVENTS

A preview documentary, Bogdan’s Journey, about one man’s effort toward healing the wounds of the 1946 Kielce Pogrom, will be shown on Monday, September 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the Maxine and Robert Seller Theater located in the Jewish Community Center, Benderson Family Building, 2640 North Forest Road in Getzville.  

On Friday, September 13th at 1:00 p.m. Daemen’s Wick Alumni Lounge will be the site of a panel discussion with guest panelists Jakub Nowakowski, Executive Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow who coordinated the exhibit’s visit to the United States; Dr. Sean Martin, the Associate Curator for Jewish History at Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland; and award-winning Buffalo journalist Rich Kellman, who reported on developments in Poland in the 1970s and 1980s.  A screening of the documentary, A Town Called Brzostek, about the restoration of the Jewish Cemetery there, will also be shown during the panel event.  

An additional documentary, The Return, about being young and Jewish in Poland today, will be screened on Tuesday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m. at the Research and Information Commons (RIC) 120 on the Daemen Campus. The exhibition gallery will be open on September 17^th until 7:00 pm.

This project is co-financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland as a part of the “Public Diplomacy 2019” program and is made possible by the Galicia Jewish Museum, and sponsorships from the Visual and Performing Arts Department, the Center for Polish Studies and the History & Political Science Department at Daemen College, the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College, the Buffalo Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo, and the Holocaust Resource Center of Buffalo.

Women's History Month -- 2019!

The Women's Studies Program at Daemen is proud to announce this year's Women's History Month roster of events, including lectures, films, a poetry reading, and a meet-and-greet poster-making session.

(Scroll down to the Women's History Month poster for full details about each event.)

 

"Liberty" (Frances F. Noyes) presides over this March 31, 1913, suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., as women sought the right to vote. (National Archives)

Lectures: The History and Political Science Department is sponsoring two lectures as part of its History & Politics Event Series:

• On March 25 (7pm, RIC120), Dr. Alexis Henshaw will speak on "Insurgent Women: Female Combatants in Civil Wars." Dr. Henshaw is a political scientist specializing in international women's issues. She is a professor as well as United Nation consultant. Henshaw's lecture will draw upon her recent book, Insurgent Women, to explore women's involvement in war and peace efforts in several regions: Ukraine, Kurdish groups in the Middle East, and the civil war in Columbia. (For more information, see the event flier or our Facebook event page)

• On March 20 (7pm, Wick Social Room), Dr. Karolina Krasuska will present a lecture on "Women and the Holocaust." Dr. Krasuska, an Assistant Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland, is an expert on transnational modernism, gender, queer identity, and Jewishness. In fall 2017, Krasuska taught a class on 20th century European history at Daemen during her visit as part of the faculty exchange program between Daemen and the University of Warsaw's American Studies Center.  Her lecture will draw upon her recent coedited collection, Women and the Holocaust: New Perspectives and Challenges. Dr. Krasuska's lecture is co-sponsored by the Center for Polish Studies.
  

Films: 

• On March 6 (7pm, Wick Alumni Lounge), the History & Political Science Department is screening the classic 1959 French film, Hiroshima Mon Amour, timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the film's release. Dr. Kevin Telford (Associate Professor of French, Modern Languages Department) will comment and lead a discussion after the movie. 
• On March 27 (7pm, RIC120), the AAUW Student Organization will air the 2016 (remake) of the movie, Ghostbusters, in which paranormal investigators try to prove that ghosts are real. Students will discuss the film through a feminist lens, focusing on the significance of the all-female cast and reframed story.  
• on March 28 (4pm, DS336), Dr. Shannon Lupien and other members of the Psychological Sciences Department will present The Tale as part of the Daemen Film Series. The Tale explores the aftermath of the sexual assault of a child--from the perspective of the adult survivor of sexual assault who is coming to terms with what happened to her as a child and who needs to understand the stories she told herself to survive her experiences.  

Poetry Reading:

• On March 20 (7pm, 3rd floor RIC), the Readings at the RIC poetry series features two female poets from Buffalo: Rachelle Toarmino and Theresa Wyatt

AAUW: Sign-design & Interest Meeting:

• On March 7 (7pm, RIC Den), members of the AAUW Student Organization will come together to make signs and socialize before the 2019 Buffalo Women's March (scheduled for Sunday, March 10). The club promotes gender equality and action in behalf of women's education and gender pay equity. Make a sign, plan for the March, and learn more about the AAUW and its members. 
  

Upcoming events: Visit this page for updates on April's events:

• Dr. Laura Watts, Associate Professor of Art History (Visual and Performing Arts Department) -- will lecture on images of the matria in 19th century Italian paintings (Time/location TBA)

• On April 17 (Academic Festival) the AAUW Student Organization is holding a World Hijab Day Acknowledgement event--and henna booth. Learn about cultural traditions associated with wearing hijab--why do women wear them, and what do they represent? The club will also sponsor a henna booth. Get a henna tattoo and learn about the cultural significance of henna body ornamentation in different cultures. The event is scheduled to run for several hours, but most visitors will want to stay for 15 to 30 minutes so you can stop by between other events at Academic Festival. (schedule will be posted here)

Read more about this year's Women's History Month events in this story from The Daemen Voice and by visiting the History & Political Science Department's Facebook page.

Questions? Contact Dr. Penny Messinger, Associate Professor of History and Director of Daemen's Women's Studies Program.

Symposium on 100th Anniversary of Polish Independence -- Saturday, September 22

1918-2018: Center for Polish Studies at Daemen College hosts Conference on Polish Independence

"For Your Freedom and Ours:" Polonia and the Struggle for Polish Independence

The Center for Polish Studies -- with financial aid and support from the History & Political Science Department (Daemen College), the Permanent Chair of Polish Culture at Canisius College, and the Society of Friends of Learning in Przemysl, Poland -- will host an academic conference on 21-22 September 2018. The conference will commemorate the 100th anniversary of Polish independence, with a special focus on the Polish diaspora and its role in the creation of a new Polish state in 1918.

The keynote speaker will be award-winning historian Prof. James Pula. Related events will include a tour of the special exhibition on "Camp Kosciuszko: The Polish Army at Niagara Camp, 1917-1919" at the Niagara Historical Society & Museum (Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario), a guided tour of other sites associated with Camp Kosciuszko, and a performance of music by Ignacy Paderewski by the Chopin Singing Society of Buffalo. A volume of select papers will be published by the Society of Friends of Learning in Przemysl.

For full details, see the Call For Papers at H-Net.

Organizers for the conference are Prof. Andrew Wise (Daemen College) and Prof. dr. hab. Tomasz Pudlocki (Jagiellonian University). For more information, please contact Andrew Wise at awise@daemen.edu.

Updates from Jagiellonian University

Jagiellonian University CEES Winter School Students at Krasiczyn

Studies in Central and Eastern Europe (CEES): Histories, Cultures, and Societies

Prof. Andrew Kier Wise (Professor of History/Chair, Center for Polish Studies at Daemen College) is teaching several courses this semester in an innovative new program at Jagiellonian University's Institute of History. Directed by Prof. dr. hab. Tomasz Pudlocki, the CEES program brings students from around the world to Krakow to study the history of Poland and the broader region. For more information, please click here:http://www.ceestudies.historyczny.uj.edu.pl/start

From 12-16 February, Prof. Wise accompanied Prof. Pudlocki, Ph.D. student Kamil Ruszala, and a dozen CEES students on a Winter School trip filled with site visits, lectures by faculty, and presentations by the students. Sites and cities on the itinerary included: Kolbuszowa, Sandomierz, Baranow Sandomierski, Kazimierz Dolny, Pulawy, Lublin, Zamosc, Belzec, Lancut, Krasiczyn, Przemysl, Sanok, and Tarnow.

Image of Ship Bringing Immigrants to Buffalo inside
Wooden Church at Museum of Folk Culture in Kolbuszowa

CEES Students in Zamosc

Krasiczyn Castle on a Snowy Day

While in Przemysl, Prof. Pudlocki provided a lecture to a joint class of CEES students and students at his alma mater, I Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. J. Slowackiego.

CEES Winter School Students with Przemysl High School Students

Prof. Pudlocki's Winter School Lecture at Przemysl High School

Prof. Wise also presented a lecture to these groups of students at the Society of Friends of Learning  in Przemysl (Towarzystwo Przyjaciol Nauk w Przemyslu, or TPN).

Prof. Wise's Winter School Lecture at TPN

Jagiellonian Polonia Institute at Daemen College -- Planned for 2019

In 2019, the Center for Polish Studies will host the "Jagiellonian Polonia Institute at Daemen College." Prof. Tomasz Pudlocki will lead a group of eight students from Jagiellonian University (including students from the CEES program) for a two-week course of study at Daemen College.

For more details about the Jagiellonian Polonia Institute at Daemen College, please contact Prof. Wise at awise@daemen.edu.

Prof. Andrew Wise Delivers Public Lecture at Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington, D.C.

L-R: Tomasz Pudlocki, Magdalena Baczewska, Janusz Romanski, and Andrew Wise

Polish Cultural Institute and Kosciuszko Foundation,"Between Music and Diplomacy: The Founding Fathers of WWI American-Polish Rapprochement" -- Washington, DC, 2 February 2018

The year 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the rebirth of the Polish state, and the Center for Polish Studies at Daemen College and its affiliated faculty are actively engaging students and community partners in Buffalo, the US, and Poland in commemorating this event of worldwide significance.

En route to Poland to teach at Jagiellonian University for the spring semester, Prof. Andrew Kier Wise (Professor of History and Chair, Polish Studies Center) joined Prof. dr. hab. Tomasz Pudlocki (Professor of History, Jagiellonian University)  and Dr. Magdalena Baczewska (Director of Music Performance Program, Columbia University) for an evening of programming at the Kosciuszko Foundation in Washington, DC. Prof. Pudlocki is the coordinator in Poland for Daemen's study abroad program, which brings Daemen students to Poland during the summer session. He also was a Fulbright Scholar in Residence at Daemen College in fall 2015.

Entitled "Between Music and Diplomacy: The Founding Fathers of WWI American-Polish Rapprochement," the event featured lectures by Prof. Pudlocki and Prof. Wise and a piano performance by Dr. Baczewska. Prof. Pudlocki provided a cogent and in-depth analysis of the historical events surrounding American-Polish collaboration during World War I.  Prof. Wise focused on the activities in the US and Europe of Buffalo Health Commissioner Dr. Francis Fronczak, who was a close friend of Ignacy Paderewski and a member of the Polish National Committee. An accomplished concert pianist and recording artist, Dr. Baczewska performed on the piano and also provided scholarly commentary about the Paderewski pieces that she selected.

Co-sponsored by the Polish Cultural Institute (New York) and the Kosciuszko Foundation (Washington, DC Center), the event was well-attended by community members, scholars, and representatives from the Polish Embassy. Please click here for one review in the Polish-American press:  https://www.kurierplus.com/2018/02/5365/miedzy-muzyka-i-dyplomacja/. The photo below includes event organizers Magdalena Mazurek (Polish Cultural Institute New York), Barbara Bernhardt (Kosciuszko Foundation, Washington, DC Center), and Anna Domanska (Polish Cultural Institute New York).

L-R: Magdalena Mazurek, Barbara Bernhardt, Prof. Pudlocki, Magdalena Baczewska, Andrew Wise, and Anna Domanska 

Welcome Dr. Karolina Krasuska!

Dr. Krasuska

Dr. Karolina Krasuska has joined the faculty of the History & Political Science Department this semester as a Visiting Assistant Professor of History through faculty exchange with the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw, Poland. She will be at Daemen through early October and is co-teaching our 20th Century European history class (HST206) with Dr. Andrew Wise.

Dr. Krasuska is an expert in cultural studies, gender analysis, and transnational literature. Her teaching portfolio at the University of Warsaw includes classes on cultural studies, masculinities, American Jewishness, and literature.

Dr. Krasuska will give two public lectures during her visit: 

• Women in the Holocaust on Monday, September 11, 7:00pm at Canisius College Regis Rooms
• POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews on Tuesday, October 3, 7:00pm at Daemen College Research & Information Commons (RIC), Room 120 (Palisano Room). The POLIN Museum opened in 2014 at the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The museum will be familiar to students who have participated in recent Polish Study-Abroad classes led by Dr. Wise.  

Dr. Krasuska's public lectures are part of an extensive series of events marking Buffalo's 2017 Polish Cultural Festival, arranged in collaboration with multiple educational and community organizations (including Daemen College) and publicized through the Permanent Chair of Polish Studies at Canisus College. Four of the events in this series will be hosted by Daemen College:

• September 14-October 27: Exhibition of Artworks by Polish artist Wieslaw Skibinski at Karamanoukian Gallery, Haberman Gagioch Arts Center, Daemen College. Opening reception on Thursday, September 14, 5:00-7:00 pm. Free and open to the public.
• September 17: Jedliniok Folk Dance Group of Wroclaw: 3:00pm at the Daemen College Wick Center Social Room. A performance of the Polish academic song and dance ensemble. Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door, $10 for students. Tickets are available at the Am-Pol Eagle Offices, 3620 Harlem Rd; call 983-5084 or 681-0813. 
• September 19: Raise the Roof--screening at 7:00pm at Daemen's Research and Information Commons (RIC) Room 120 (Palisano Room). This documentary film explores the reconstruction of the roof and bimah of the 18th Century Wooden Synagogue in Gwozdziec (formerly in Poland), by artists Rick and Laura Brown, which is now the center of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The documentary is by Tari & Cary Wolinsky and is presented courtesy of the National Center for Jewish Film. Copyright Trillium Studios. Find more information at: www.polishsynagogue.com/movietrailer/
• October 3: Dr. Karolina Krasuska's lecture on POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews--7:00pm at Daemen College Research & Information Commons (RIC), Room 120 (Palisano Room). The POLIN Museum opened in 2014 at the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto.

Join us in welcoming Dr. Krasuska to Daemen College!


Dr. Krasuska's faculty profile from the University of Warsaw:

Karolina Krasuska is Assistant Professor at American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw and also a member of the research group “Gender and Literature” at the Institute for Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences. She holds a PhD in Cultural Studies from European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder (2010). She is the author of a book-length study examining modernist literature from a transnational, gender-oriented perspective, published in Polish as Płeć i naród: Trans/lokacje. Maria Komornicka/Piotr Odmieniec Włast, Else Lasker-Schüler, Mina Loy (Warszawa 2012). She is also the Polish translator of Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble (Uwikłani w płeć, Warszawa 2008). Her most recent publication is the collection Women and the Holocaust: New Perspectives and Challenges (Warszawa 2015), which she co-edited with Andrea Petö and Louise Hecht.

Teaching American Democracy at the American Studies Center - University of Warsaw (ASC-UW)

The Course: American Democracy and Critical Perspectives

Last Fall, I was fortunate enough to be selected as the first faculty member from Daemen College to participate in the exchange program with the American Studies Center of the University of Warsaw (ASC UW). The ASC is one of the largest American Studies departments in Europe offering interdisciplinary B.A., M.A. and postgraduate programs. As one ASC student explains, the “program extends into many areas of research including history, political science, literature studies, cultural studies, and social sciences which gives us a broad perspective on America and allows students to pursue their various interests.”

The American Studies Center (OSA-UW). 

Photo credit: Lisa Parshall

The course was designed to provide a critical view of American democracy with respect to the treatment of minority groups within the United States political system. I chose as our focus, the role of Native Americans and African-Americans—two groups with distinct, yet in some ways parallel experiences, as “the first and the forced” among our citizenry (Leiker, Warren, and Watkins 2007).

Felix Cohen, the foremost scholar on Federal Indian Policy, wrote in 1953: “Like the miner’s canary, the Indian marks the shift from fresh air to poison gas in our political atmosphere; and our treatment of Indians, even more than our treatment of other minorities, reflects the rise and fall in our democratic faith” (390). Cohen’s seminal work included the following observation by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) director, John Collier:

“What sort of treatment dominant groups give to subject groups- how governments treat minorities– and how big countries treat little countries. This is a subject that comes down the centuries and never was it a more burning subject that in this year (1939). So this is the question: “How has our country treated its oldest and most persistent minority, the Indians. How has it treated them, and how is it treating them now?”

Felix S. Cohen, author of the Federal Handbook of Indian Law

Photo Credit: www.doi.gov/interiormuseum/programs/Felix-Cohen

The displacement of sovereign democratic nations in the founding of our own, and the subsequent treatment of Native Americans under federal policy, stands in stark contrast to American democratic ideals. So too has the treatment of African-Americans and the continued legacy of slavery and segregation presented a paradox for the celebration of American democracy. These brutal histories, and the contemporary realities faced by minority communities, are ongoing “problems” for a democratic political system that is founded upon the logic of equality and the promise of equal protection under law.

The design for the course was already ambitious, covering a blend of historical and contemporary issues impacting Native and African Americans as lens through which to view the effective functioning of the American political system. I had no idea in designing the course that events would conspire to make the spring semester one of the most dynamic times to be teaching a democracy course. The 2016 election and developments of the early Trump Administration provided twists that were both a challenge and an opportunity. Whatever one’s politics, the first few months of the Trump Administration have proven eventful in terms of the daily news cycle; and the functioning of the executive branch has been anything but routine.

Even as we talked about the fundamental elements of what constitutes a democracy, intelligence reports confirmed efforts at external election interference; the investigations of the House and Senate investigatory committees lurched on in fits and starts. Then came the firing of FBI director, James Comey, and Trump’s tweets about the possible existence of tape recorded conversations raised the specter of a brewing crises with shades of Watergate. Former National Intelligence Director, James Clapper, asserted that American institutions were under assault—internally as well as externally. With mounting pressures, an independent counsel was named. The ongoing litigation over Trump’s travel ban sparked more rhetoric challenging the independence and legitimacy of judiciary. The President’s first international trip revealed a United States out of accord with important democratic allies on climate and trade. On his return, Trump announced he was pulling the United States out of the Paris Treaty and there were renewed assertions of executive authority in the aftermath of two international terrorist attacks. In short, the basic foundations and function of our constitutional system of separated powers and checks and balances were on full display. 

The pace of developments germane to minority rights was no less spectacular. A course which started with a historical overview of the loss of Indian sovereignty and territory ended with the administration’s intention to privatize ownership of federal lands. Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s first Supreme Court appointee and the first justice in a long while to have substantial experience with Native American legal issues (from his time on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals), assumed his seat on the Court. Our classroom discussion of the Standing Rock Protests coincided with news of another leak in the newly opened Dakota Access Pipeline. Our discussion of the long history of Civil Rights, concluded recent announcements by Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, that the Department of Justice was rescinding federal investigations of state, local, and tribal authority and proposed budget cuts in the civil rights divisions in the departments of labor and education. And our discussion of voting rights was topped off by the Supreme Court’s condemnation of the North Carolina redistricting efforts for using partisanship as a proxy for race with the surprising key vote of Justice Clarence Thomas.  

All of this was set, of course, within the context of global politics, the rise of national populist movements, and a re-examination of democratic trends. As one of the students noted, “the rise of nationalistic sentiments and populism in global politics,” makes understanding “American democracy’s place in the international arena even more important.” When and how do democracies backslide?  What are the harbingers of democratic dysfunction? 

Reflecting on the timing of the course and the importance of American studies more generally, one of the students writes:

The United States, being one of the hegemons of democracy is an important subject of study. I think it is a very good time to study American Democracy, because of what’s been happening in both Europe and in the United State over the last few years. As more and more people are starting to doubt democratic systems, they are turning towards nationalistic ideas. America exerts huge influence on the rest of the world: politically, economically, culturally. Some would even say that we may be witnessing a moment, when some democratic principles are being questioned or dismantled. People assume that democracy will last forever; however, it is not so simple.

The American Studies Center Sign

Photo Credit: Lisa Parshall

Unique Perspectives on American Democracy

The students at the OSA-American Studies Center are among the best and brightest, and it was a rare treat to teach a class to graduate students who brought a unique perspective on these issues of American Democracy. Impressively, my students were not just well-versed in basic American history and politics, they were avid consumers of American news, which greatly enhanced our discussions and allowed us to incorporate current events in our consideration of democratic processes.  

Each of the students in my class had chosen the elective because of their interest in minority rights in the United States. Their broader research interests, however, were much more varied and included African-American political thought, gender and queer studies, immigration, and international politics. For several students, the consideration of Native Americans’ place in the American Political system was of special interest. “Even though I have been enrolled in an American Studies program for four years now, I had never had a class on Native Americans and my knowledge about them was very limited.”  The absence of courses dedicated to Native American tribal sovereignty and federal Indian policy is common in the curriculum of American colleges and Universities as well. 

The perspective of the course was designed to be a critical one, providing students with “more diverse and nuanced perspectives, instead of an idealized picture” of a “utopian American democracy.” For one student, the class “confirmed my view that American Democracy (just like any other democracy) isn’t perfect and there are flaws, which are often overlooked in school or university curricula.... Thanks to the broadening of my knowledge concerning Native Americans and African Americans position within the American legal system, I was able to more fully understand both the causes and the consequences of contemporary inequalities.”

As importantly, I learned a great deal from the students regarding the state of liberal democracies in Europe and Poland, and of the impact of globalization and economic decline on minority rights. Their own interests sometimes took the course in unexpected, yet no less important directions as we expanded our lens to consider the place of women and the LGBT community in politics. Overall, the interaction of  such differing vantage points helps to “force both students and faculty to step out of their bubble and confront different ideas about America and American Democracy, and greatly contributes to academic development.”

The Exchange Program Between Daemen College and the ASC-UW

The exchange program was made possible through the efforts of Professor Andrew Wise, the Director of Daemen College’s Polish Studies program in collaboration with Dr. Sławomir Józefowicz, the International Mobility Coordinator at the ASC and with the support of ASC director, Dr. Grzegorz Kość.

In Fall 2017, Assistant Professor Dr. Karolina Krasuska will travel to Daemen where she will team-teach a course with Professor Andrew Wise: HST 206, Twentieth Century Europe. For faculty and students in the classroom, the exchange is “an opportunity to learn about the different culture of studying and teaching. Even though both Poland and the United States are considered part of the so-called Western world, there are some, maybe even considerable, differences in the approach to the subject of university studies. This is a chance to see differences in the curricula; the observations may serve as an inspiration as to what could be changed or differently implemented.”

As envisioned, students who take part in the exchange would not necessarily be limited to taking coursework in the ASC (University of Warsaw) or the Department of History and Political Science (Daemen College), but may potentially take classes in other disciplines of their specific academic interest. The respective departments might, in other words, serve as a home-base for students seeking to take coursework at the partner institution, allowing them to partake in the immersive experience which comes from studying abroad. “Above all else, the exchange is a chance to experience living and/or working in a foreign country: an experience that may prove to be essential in one’s future career and life.”

Łazienki Park (Park Łazienkowski) is one of many beautiful greenspaces in Warsaw.

Photo Credit: Lisa Parshall

American students traveling to Poland will discover a safe and comfortable experience.  There is no shortage of places to explore in Warsaw, including beautiful parks, cultural and educational museums, cafes, and clubs.  The Metro system is convenient and easy to navigate. And cities like Krakow and Gdansk are easily accessible by train.  ASC students advise our English-speaking students not to view language as a barrier: in Poland “most young people can speak English at least on a communicative level, so there’s nothing to worry about.”  They also add that “some Americans might have a stereotypical idea of Poland, since we are economically disadvantaged compared to the rest of the European Union,” but note “that we are not in poverty and our cities are comparable to big cities in Europe.”  The important thing is to “keep an open mind,” and “to take the opportunity to try to learn something about the Polish culture.”

Scenes Along the Royal Way in Old Town

Photo Credit: Lisa Parshall

Special thanks to the ASC-UW class for their contributions of thoughts and observations to the blog (and whose quotes are indicated by italics).

Daemen College students who are interested in learning more about the Polish Studies Program and/or the exchange opportunity with the ASC-UW should contact Dr. Andrew Wise, Professor of History, at awise@daemen.edu.  Daemen College’s Global Programs Office can help any answer questions you may have about studying abroad and can help provide logistical support.   

References

The First and the Forced: Essays on the Native American and African American Experience.  Edited by James N. Leiker, Kim Warren, and Barbara Watkins (2007).

The Federal Handbook of Indian Law, Felix S. Cohen (1942).

The Erosion of Indian Rights, Felix S. Cohen (1953).

Polish Scholar Opens the 2016-17 History & Politics Event Series at Daemen College on September 13

Public History students at the MANY Conference

Emily Kraft (History, '16) and Taqiyah Gibbons (History, '18) pose with Don Wildman,
host of the Travel Channel show, "Mysteries at the Museum." Wildman was
the keynote speaker at the conference. 

On April 17-19, Daemen students Emily Kraft and Taqiyah Gibbons attended the annual conference of the Museum Association of New York (MANY), held at Lake Placid. Both Emily and Taqiyah are History majors and Public History minors who learned about MANY while taking Introduction to Public History last semester with Professor Lenora Henson, who is also Curator and Director of Public Programming at the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural site and a regular participant in the Museum Association of New York. She encouraged Emily and Taqiyah to attend the conference at a reduced rate as student volunteers. As Henson explained, "In addition to seeking out internships (which any student interested in exploring a museum career should do as soon as possible), attending a professional conference is a great way to learn more about a field and see if it feels 'right'. It's also a great place to get a head start on networking." 

"I was very excited to learn about a networking opportunity for exactly the field I was interested in," Kraft wrote. "Before talking to Professor Henson, I did not realize New York held such a conference; as a student graduating in May, I am interested in any opportunity to get myself in the field and begin to prepare for my future. As a student I was excited about who I would meet and what is currently being discussed in the field."

A view of Lake Placid, a major recreation destination and site of the 1980 Winter Olympics. 

"All in all the conference was a great opportunity to network and put ourselves out there in the field," Kraft explained. "Professor Henson was a big help and she introduced us to many of her colleagues in the field. It would be so nice to see other students go in the future and use the trip as professional exposure."

Kraft and Gibbons met students, faculty, and museum professionals from across the state. Kraft, who is currently exploring graduate programs, learned more about several master's degree programs in Museum Studies, including Syracuse University's: "I was able to network and find out what the program is like. I plan to research further and keep this as a possibility for grad school."

Kraft integrated her new knowledge about museum programming into her Academic Festival presentation on April 20. The presentation was based upon research she did at Warsaw's Museum of the History of Polish Jews for her senior thesis project, which she completed in December 2015. As Kraft explained, museums are rushing to adjust to the expectations of the millennial generation with more interactive, digital, and online components, which creates opportunities in the field for college graduates with relevant skills.

History & Politics Speaker Series: Dr. Erica Lehrer on "Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places"

Faculty of the History and Political Science Department cordially invite you to the next lecture in the History & Politics Speaker Series

Prof. Erica Lehrer

Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places

Monday, 26 October 2015

7:00 pm

Wick Alumni Lounge

Generously funded and sponsored by Collegiate Village

Jewish heritage revival in Poland is a phenomenon that has attracted a great deal of attention and provoked many controversies. American cultural anthropologist Erica Lehrer ventures into this territory, both fascinating and fraught with tension, giving a fresh glimpse into the backstage of the Jewish heritage industry.

Dr. Erica Lehrer

Prof. Erica Lehrer is a socio-cultural anthropologist and curator. She is currently Associate Professor in the departments of History and Sociology-Anthropology and Canada Research Chair in Museum & Heritage Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. She is the author (among other publications) of Jewish Poland Revisited: Heritage Tourism in Unquiet Places (Indiana University Press, 2013), and editor (with Michael Meng) of Jewish Space in Contemporary Poland (2015). In 2013 she curated the exhibit “Souvenir, Talisman, Toy” at the Seweryn Udziela Ethnographic Museum in Krakow, and in 2014 published the accompanying book Lucky Jews and the online exhibit www.luckyjews.com.

Interview with Professor Robert Blobaum, Eberly Family Professor at West Virginia University

Professor Robert Blobaum, Eberly Family Professor at West Virginia University (Morgantown, WV), discussed World War I, Buffalo, and the practical side of history in an interview with Tomasz Pudłocki (Assistant Professor of History, Jagiellonian University; Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Daemen College).

 

Prof. Robert Blobaum



Tomasz Pudłocki:  Not long ago, you participated in a conference on World War I (Death of Empires) at Daemen College in Amherst, NY. As the keynote speaker, you delivered a presentation on Warsaw during the Great War. How were you able to place events in Warsaw within the broader context of “the death of empires?” What can we say about life in this city during WWI? 

Robert Blobaum:  It was Warsaw’s fate to bear witness to the collapse of two of them during the First World War—that of the Russian Empire, which for Warsaw effectively occurred in August 1915 when the Russians were forced to evacuate the city, never to return, and then that of the Second German Reich whose forces occupied the city following the Russian withdrawal, only themselves to depart in the fall of 1918. One is tempted to add a third empire to this mix, the Austro-Hungarian, but its presence in the city was essentially a diplomatic one of ever dwindling influence. In many ways, life in Warsaw during the war was similar to that in imperial capitals such as Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg, particularly in regard to the experience of food supply, quality and distribution. In other ways, however, it was significantly different, for example, in the high level of unemployment and massive out-migration, voluntary and involuntary, of much of its working-age male population. 

T. P.:  You are well-known for your works on the Polish lands before 1914. Why did you decide to study World War I? Was it because of the centenary or is it a part of your broader interest? 

R.B.:  In part, it was a natural progression for me, after my earlier studies of the Kingdom of Poland and Warsaw before the First World War. I had planned to move on to the First World War somewhat earlier but another project, the organization and editing of a collaborative volume on antisemitism in modern Poland, intervened in the meantime. The centenary only came into play once I was finally able to begin my research on Warsaw during the war in 2008.  

T.P.:  You have studied Poland and Polish history for many years, and you have authored many books and articles. You have won many awards for your innovative approaches to issues in Polish history. Could you tell us how you became interested in Polish history? 

R.B.:  My original interest was actually focused on imperial and revolutionary Russia. The role of Poland and Poles in that history, however, had led me westward by the time I began my doctoral studies, eventually to my dissertation on Feliks Dzierżyński and then later to the Revolution of 1905 in the Kingdom of Poland. 

T.P.:  Is it easy to speak to an American audience about Polish affairs? Many Americans have trouble locating Poland on a map, not to mention the difficulties of pronouncing Polish names. Does this affect the popularity of your research? 

R.B.: Americans have difficulty with names in any other language other than English. Only a minority are able to pronounce my German surname properly. Once, however, Americans realize that they cannot hope to understand European history and affairs, particularly in the modern era, without knowledge of Poland at its epicenter, it’s a much easier sell. One can make the argument that Poland is as relevant as France and Great Britain, if not more so, to modern European history, but to do that it is necessary to demonstrate that Polish history is not and never has been peripheral. Given Poland’s location on the map of Europe, how could it be? 

T.P.:  Do you have any advice for students who are interested in Central and Eastern Europe? To what areas of research would you turn their attention? 

R.B.:  My first piece of advice is to familiarize themselves with one or more languages of the region. For example, to do Polish history justice, one should know at least four languages in addition to English: Polish, of course, but also Russian, German and Yiddish, not to mention Ukrainian, Belorusian, and Lithuanian. While I have some kind of proficiency in three of these of languages, I regret to this day that Yiddish is not among them. As for areas of research, the field is wide open. For example, when I have been asked to compare the experience of the Great War in Warsaw with that of other Polish cities, I can do so only in the most general terms because that work hasn’t been done in any systematic way for places like Kraków, Lwów, Poznań, Łódź, etc. Even for the Second World War, until the recent appearance of Joshua Zimmerman’s book on the Polish underground and the Jews this year, no serious scholarly monograph has gone beyond stereotypes to treat that controversial topic in a dispassionate and impartial way. In any event, there is much to do in practically every area of Central and East European history.   

T.P.:  And what about the nationality/ethnicity of the researcher? In your opinion, is it a factor that helps or hinders his/her research? Or does it matter? 

R.B.:  It shouldn’t matter but it has in the past, especially in dealing with issues of interethnic relations. One’s ethnicity can be beneficial, in adding nuance and insight about group thinking. Or it can be harmful, a source of bias and stereotypes. Often, one’s ethnicity is held against or in favor of the researcher, without any basis in the quality of research itself. For example, I have often been assumed to be Jewish because of my surname, which then has been said to disqualify me from making pronouncements on the history of Polish-Jewish relations. On the other hand, my actual status as a third-generation American of German descent for some has presumably endowed me with impartiality in dealing with such issues.  

T.P.:  Do you believe that universities and colleges in Buffalo, such as Daemen College, are good places to study Central and Eastern Europe? 

R.B.:  Definitely. First, because Buffalo and other cities on the Great Lakes and in the upper Midwest were major destinations of the Central and East European immigrants, so there is a natural audience of those looking to understand their roots beyond mere genealogy. Secondly, colleges like Daemen have recruited faculty, people like Professor Andrew Wise, who are skilled researchers and program builders. The “Death of Empires” conference is a testimony to such efforts, as was the amazing Nikifor exhibit at Daemen, organized by Professor Wise.  

Prof. Robert Blobaum and Dr. Andrew Wise

Dr. Wise, Prof. Blobaum, and Dr. Tomasz Pudlocki

T.P.:  In Poland, students often ask about the viability of degrees in the humanities. Are there jobs in the USA for persons interested in studying the history of Central or Eastern Europe? 

R.B.: There are jobs, but not necessarily in the academy or in teaching.  The private business sector in the United States, for example, hires more holders of Humanities degrees than one might imagine because it values research skills on the one hand, and communication skills necessary to relay information derived from research on the other. Often, private businesses have found that graduates of business schools and engineering programs don’t possess these important skills. My advice to students interested in the Humanities is to follow their passion, but combine that passion with at least some academic coursework and training in another discipline.  

T.P.:  I have the impression that the anniversaries connected with World War I (the Great War) are of greater interest to Europeans than Americans. There seem to be many more commemorations in Europe than in the USA. Why is this the case? 

R.B.:  The main reason is that the United States entered the war relatively late, officially in April 1917, but not until a year later did Americans appear in the trenches of the western front. The Great War was not nearly as traumatic for Americans as it was for Europeans. This is more important than the fact that none of the war was fought on American soil, which could also be said of the Second World War, but it is far more commemorated. Of course, how and to what extent the Great War is commemorated in Europe varies significantly from country to country as well. 

T.P.:  In conclusion, I would like to ask you about your forthcoming plans. The presentation at the “Death of Empires” conference at Daemen College is part of a larger book project. Could you share some thoughts about any other research projects? 

R.B.:  First, I need  to see my book on Warsaw during the Great War through to publication. That will take a year of revisions, editing, securing permissions for photographs and other images, indexing, etc.  Academic book publishing in the U.S. is a long process, even after a contract is signed. I also need to see through some smaller projects that have been accepted for publication—one on Polish-Jewish relations in Warsaw during the Great War, another on the role and limitations of "ego-documents” (personal correspondence, diaries, accounts, testimonies, memoirs) in conducting research on everyday life during wartime. Beyond that, we need to remember that Warsaw remained a city at war after the Great War, only now as the capital city of an independent Poland. While the Polish-Soviet war has been fairly well researched, we know little about its impact on living conditions in Warsaw, particularly as it became a frontline city in that conflict. Finally, I have been approached about co-organizing and editing a collaborative volume devoted to research on the social and cultural history of Central and East European cities during the Great War, cities which have yet to be examined and certainly not in any comparative way. I have already mentioned Polish cities like Poznań, Kraków, Łódź and Lwów, but cities like Budapest, Prague, Belgrade, Bratislava, and Vilnius—the list could go on—would also be included.

T.P.: Thank you very much.

Death of Empires: A Multidisciplinary Humanities Conference on World War I at Daemen College: September 18-19, 2015

 

World War I and the Death of Empires Conference

The historical and literary legacy of World War I is the focus of the Death of Empires Conference scheduled for September 18-19, 2015, at Daemen College (4380 Main Street, Amherst, NY).

The Death of Empires Conference is presented by the Departments of English; History & Political Science; and Visual & Performing Arts at Daemen College. The conference will bring together humanities scholars, humanities educators, and the general public to share research findings and explore the impact of the Great War on the home front and the battlefront, as well as the war's place in public memory. Members of the general public and students are invited to attend the academic sessions along with the related performances and exhibits, which examine the meaning and legacy of World War I through a variety of academic disciplines and media. All events are free and open to the public.

Dog made of foil from cigarette packets in France during World War I

by Private William Farrar. Farrar served in the West Yorkshire Regiment of 

the British army and was killed in fighting in 1916.

(Collection of Dr. Robert Waterhouse)

Planned to coincide with the centennial anniversary of the war, the conference features humanities-based academic and artistic presentations that consider the pivotal role of World I in bringing about the death of empires and the creation of a new world order. Sometimes described as the first "modern war," World War I erased distinctions between "war front" and "home front," amplified ethnic tensions, and signaled the limits of imperial power in ways that continue to resonate today. 

Trench warfare. (Photo courtesy of Zenon Harasym)

The Death of Empires Conference includes five components:  I. Research Presentations by American and international scholars organized into panel sessions; II. "The Collapse of Empires: The View from Warsaw (Poland) During World War I," conference keynote address by Dr. Robert Blobaum; III. "The Rose that Grows in No Man's Land," a theatrical reading of women's wartime writing by Buffalo's Red Thread Theatre Company; IV. "Little Empires: Toy Soldiers during the Great War, 1914-1918," an exhibit of military-themed toys; and V. Nikifor Exhibit: artworks by "primitive" artist Nikifor Krynicki (1895-1968) from the Lemko region of Poland. (Keep reading for more details about each part of the conference.)

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"Changes to Europe After World War I," from "40 Maps that Explain World War I"

I. RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS BY AMERICAN AND INTERNATIONAL SCHOLARS Saturday, September 19. Papers are organized into four panel sessions (8:15-10:00am, 10:15-12:00, 2:30-4:00pm, and 4:15-5:45pm) in RIC 120 (Research and Information Commons.)

Session 1: The Great War and Historical Memory (8:15-10:00, RIC 120)

• Keeping the Lost Empire Alive in Nazi Germany (Willeke Sandler, Loyola University)
• Gun Smoke in Lettow’s Jungle: German East Africa Between the Wars (Thomas Pennington, New York University)
• Remembering an Ottoman War: The Great War and the ‘Other’ in Modern Turkey (Pheroze Unwalla, York University) 
• Chair & Comment by Penny Messinger (Daemen College)

Session 2: The War at Home: British and American Women’s World War I Fiction (10:15-12:00, RIC 120) 

• Larsen’s Brian Redfield: The African American War Veteran in Passing (Jennifer Haytock, College at Brockport, SUNY) 
• ‘Food is a Weapon’: From Farming to Fighting in Willa Cather’s One of Ours (Stacy Hubbard, University at Buffalo, SUNY) 
• ‘Not intimate enough a contact’: Sensory Experience in The Return of the Soldier (Hannah Fogerty, University at Buffalo, SUNY) 
• ‘This Is Not Fanciful’: Gertrude Stein’s Ambulance Work in the Great War (Christopher Leslie, New York University)  
•  Chair & Comment by Charlie Wesley (Daemen College)

Session 3: Untold Stories of an Empire in Peril: Belgium and Its Colony during World War I (2:30-4:00, RIC 120)

• Untold Stories: Invading Homes. Billeting in Belgium’s Etappengebiet (1914-1918). A Story of Living in Harmony? (Sebastiaan Vanderbogaerde, Ghent University)
• ‘We did not go to war for Congo, but for Belgium’. Congolese Soldiers and Carriers facing the First World War (Enika Ngongo, Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles)
• Untold stories: Cohabitating with the Allies. Canadian troops on the Ypres Salient (1915-1918) (Nathalie Tousignant, Université Saint-Louis-Bruxelles) 
• Chair & Comment by Andrew Kier Wise (Daemen College)

Session 4: The Birth of a New World Order (4:15-5:45, RIC 120)

• Gender and Nation or Nation and Gender? Wincenta Tarnawska as a Case Study from the Periphery of World War I (Tomasz Pudłocki, Jagiellonian University)
• From Buffalo to Moscow: Anna and Boris Reinstein and the Socialist Response to the First World War (Penny Messinger and Andrew Kier Wise, Daemen College)
• A Document to End all Freedom of Movement: World War I and the Birth of the Modern Passport System (Yaron Jean, University of Haifa) 
• Chair & Comment by Hamish Dalley (Daemen College)

"European Powers Carve Up Africa," from "40 Maps that Explain World War I"

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II.  DR. ROBERT BLOBAUM, "THE COLLAPSE OF EMPIRES:  THE VIEW FROM WARSAW (POLAND) DURING WORLD WAR I," conference keynote address. Saturday, September 19, 1:00-2:15pm (Social Room, Wick Center)

• Dr Robert Blobaum, a noted historian with expertise in the history of Poland and Eastern Europe, will deliver the keynote address for the conference, "The Collapse of Empires: The View from Warsaw (Poland) during World War I," based on research for his forthcoming book manuscript. Dr. Blobaum is Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of History at West Virginia University.

Keynote speaker Dr. Robert Blobaum

In his lecture, Dr. Blobaum will discuss the collapse of first Russian and then German imperial power in 1915 and 1918 respectively from the perspective of the Warsaw street. He will also address the existential catastrophe that confronted Warsaw's resident population as a consequence of the war between the empires that had dominated Poland since the partitions. In the process Professor Blobaum will highlight other important themes, including the continuity of local Polish and Jewish elites in the war's political transitions, the role of women on the Warsaw home front, and how the Great War has figured in memory and memorialization of the war in the Polish capital.

Robert Blobaum is the Eberly Family Distinguished Professor of Modern European History at West Virginia University. He has published several books and dozens of articles on the history of Poland in the twentieth century, including Rewolucja: Russian Poland, 1904-1907 (Cornell University Press, 1995), winner of the Oskar Halecki Prize for the best book on Polish history published in that year. His current book project explores everyday life in Warsaw during the First World War.

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III. "THE ROSE THAT GROWS IN NO MAN'S LAND," a theatrical reading of women's wartime writing by Buffalo's Red Thread Theatre Company. Saturday, September 19, 7:30-8:30pm (Alumni Lounge, Wick Center)

JOSEPHINE HOGAN, LAURA MIKOLAJCZYK and JESSICA WEGRZYN present a staged reading of letters and diary entries by women during World War One.

L-R: Jessica Wegrzyn, Laura Mikolajczyk, and Josephine  Hogan

Nurses, workers, mothers, wives and sweethearts documented The Great War on the home front, in the hospitals of France, and in ships at sea. These letters and diaries provide a commentary both on "the war to end all wars" and on the ways in which the roles and rights of women became transformed between 1914 and 1918.

"....People pooh poohed us and said things like: 'Oh, you'll never be used, you know. The Red Cross will never be used.'"

- Gladys Pole, VAD

"At midnight, the first shell came over us with a shriek....We got a motor ambulance and packed in 20 men. We told them to go as far as the bridge and send it back for us. It never came."

- Sarah MacNaughton, nurse and novelist, 1914

(Nettie) Eurice Trax served with the Army Nurse Corps, part of the the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) presence in France. She described her wartime experiences in a letter to her mother: 

Excerpt from undated letter from (Nettie) Eurice Trax to her mother. Trax's wartime correspondence is included in the WWI Veteran's History Project of the U.S. Library of Congress.

Nettie Eurice Trax (whose letter is quoted above) was a nurse with the Army Nurse Corps and worked at the US Army Base Hospital 18. (Group photo of hospital staff from the Nettie Eurith Trax Collection, Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center of the U.S. Library of Congress)

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IV. "Little Empires: Toy Soldiers during the Great War, 1914-1918," an exhibit of antique military-themed toys, on display in the Research and Information Commons (RIC), from September 8 to September 30.  

This collection of toy soldiers made in Germany, Britain, France and the USA during World War I explores ways in which toy manufacturers represented the war to children on the home front.  The exhibit features toys from the private collection of Dr. Robert Waterhouse.

Prussian officer (manufactured by Heyde of Dresden), collection of Dr. Robert Waterhouse

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V. The Nikifor Exhibit: Paintings by "primitive" artist Nikifor Krynicki (1895-1968)

Conference attendees are invited to visit the exhibit of 50 artworks by Nikifor (also known as Epifaniy Drovnyak, Epifaniusz Drowniak, or Nikifor Krynicki), from the spa town of Krynica in the Lemko region of southeastern Poland. This exhibit has been arranged in conjunction with the conference. The exhibition of 50 watercolors will open on September 10 and continue until October 2 (Monday-Friday, 9:00-5:00) at the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Gallery, Haberman Gacioch Arts Center at Daemen College. Conference attendees are invited to visit the exhibit on September 18, from 3:00-5:00pm. The exhibit will also open for viewing on Saturday, September 19. 

Nikifor Krynicki was a self-taught artist whose works are regarded as some of the finest examples of naïve (primitive) art of the twentieth century. Nikifor was greatly affected by World War I, which reshaped the political map in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire where he was born. Professor Jacek Frączak (Missouri State University) organized the exhibition, which includes artworks from his family's private collection and the Alfons Karny Museum of Sculpture in Białystok, Poland. This exhibit at Daemen is the first time this collection has been exhibited in the United States; after leaving Daemen, the collection will travel to the Polish Museum of America in Chicago.

Nikifor Krynicki's Nikifor on a Walk 
(undated) watercolor. Image courtesy of Jacek Frączak

 

Nikifor Krynicki, Two-part Painting: Scenes in a Church (undated watercolor)

Image courtesy of Jacek Frączak

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

** The conference and exhibition organizers gratefully acknowledge the financial support that has made our events possible. Financial sponsorship for the conference and the Nikifor exhibit has been provided by Collegiate Village, with additional support by the Polish Arts Club of Buffalo. We also deeply appreciate the support and assistance provided by Ms. Pat Smith of the Office of Institutional Advancement.

The research presentations and Dr. Blobaum's keynote address are presented by the Department of English and the Department of History & Political Science. The Nikifor exhibition is presented by Daemen's Polish Studies Program and the Department of Visual and Performing Arts. The Red Thread Theatre reading and the "Little Empires" toy exhibit are presented by the Department of Visual and Performing Arts.

The conference organizing committee includes Dr. Andrew Wise and Dr. Penny Messinger from Daemen's History & Political Science Department; Dr. Hamish Dalley and Dr. Nancy Marck from the English Department; Dr. Robert Waterhouse of the Visual and Performing Arts Department; and Dr. Tomasz Pudlocki of of Jagiellonian University (Kracow, Poland), who is joining the History & Political Science Department for the Fall 2015 semester as a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence.

** For more information about the conference or any of the events, please write to empires.conference@daemen.edu **