POLIN Meeting Point 2018

Recruitment is starting for the IV edition of POLIN Meeting Point summer school for university students from Israel, Germany, Poland and Ukraine.

This year’s edition of the summer school  will be held from 20 August – 2 September at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, in Warsaw. It will be on the subject of 1968, which was recorded in history as a year of civil disobedience, the beginning of a cultural and moral revolution. 50 years after these events, we would like to invite the participants of the POLIN Meeting Point summer school to discuss the meaning of 1968 for European countries (on both sides of the Iron Curtain) and Israel. We are accepting applications until 16 May, 2018.

Who can participate?

We invite students and graduates (who have received a degree or course completion certificate in the last 3 years) from universities in Poland, Germany, Israel and Ukraine to join the summer school. Those who want to meet in an international group and talk about the common history of European countries and Israel, and its contemporary meaning, during fascinating lectures and workshops conducted by experts, and those who seek inspiration for their own research.

Program

In 1968, in many countries the youth protested in defense of freedom, although on different sides of the Iron Curtain freedom was defined differently. In the West, the social order, consumerism and imperialism were criticized. In the Eastern Bloc countries, protesters demanded democratization and respect for human rights. In Poland, in March 1968, the response to students’ protests against the communist authorities' policies was a brutal repression and an enhanced antisemitic propaganda campaign, combined with a purge in the power apparatus. As a result of March '68, intellectual and scientific life suffered severely, and over 13,000 Polish Jews were compelled to renounce their citizenship and emigrate.

During the 2-week program, we will deal with:

• the political and social context and causes of the discussed events,
• the mechanism of propaganda,
• women’s perspective,
• social and cultural changes.

We will discuss such topics as: student protests and their pacification by the authorities; the judeo-communist stereotype; the reasons for and consequences of the antisemitic campaign in Poland, in 1967-68; the situation in Israel, Germany and Ukraine in 1968.

Goals of POLIN Meeting Point

The participants will be able to:

• develop interpersonal and intercultural skills,
• confront their views with the perspectives of people from other countries in a safe, open atmosphere,
• consolidate and expand their knowledge of Central and Eastern Europe's post-WWII history,
• increase their skills in critical analysis of various types of sources (including working with oral history testimonies),
• get to know POLIN Museum and Warsaw through the eyes of their peers.

Character of the classes

POLIN Meeting Point is two weeks of intensive work. It will include workshops in smaller groups, lectures, discussions and integration workshops,  mostly conducted at POLIN Museum. Some of the classes will be conducted in the museum’s exhibition, Estranged, dedicated to the events of March '68.

More information about the Estranged exhibition >>

The summer school program has been developed in consultation with:

• dr Yael Granot-Bein (University of Haifa);
• prof. Bianka Pietrow-Ennker (University of Konstanz);
• dr hab. Jolanta Żyndul (Jewish Historical Institute).

The implementation of the project is possible due to the support of the Nissenbaum Family Foundation and the Association of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland.

Partners