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Polish Studies
Eastern European Studies February 3, 2023

Resurrecting the Jew

Nationalism, Philosemitism, and Poland’s Jewish Revival

Geneviève Zubrzycki

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki
Since the early 2000s, Poland has experienced a remarkable Jewish revival. Klezmer music, Jewish-style restaurants, kosher vodka, and festivals of Jewish culture have become popular, while new museums, memorials, Jewish …

Polish Studies

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Interviews with scholars of Poland about their new books

Eastern European Studies January 25, 2023

In the Shadow of the Holocaust

Poland, the United Nations War Crimes Commission, and the Search for Justice

Michael Fleming

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki
In the midst of the Second World War, Central and East European governments-in-exile struggled to make their voices heard as they reported back to the Allies and sought to reach …
Jewish Studies December 24, 2022

An Unchosen People

Jewish Political Reckoning in Interwar Poland

Kenneth B. Moss

Hosted by James Nadel
The early 1930s constituted an ambiguous moment for the roughly three million Jews that resided in the Polish Republic. On the one hand, as recent scholars have emphasized, Polish Jews …
Eastern European Studies December 9, 2022

Socialism Goes Global

The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Age of Decolonisation

James Mark and Paul Betts

Hosted by Jill Massino
Socialism Goes Global: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the Age of Decolonisation (Oxford UP, 2022) is the first work to provide a broad history of the relationship between …
Jewish Studies December 6, 2022

The Heresy of Jacob Frank

From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth

Jay Michaelson

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
In The Heresy of Jacob Frank: From Jewish Messianism to Esoteric Myth (Oxford University Press, 2022), Jay Michaelson explores the religious philosophy of the mercurial eighteenth-century figure Jacob Frank, who …
Jewish Studies November 23, 2022

A Ukrainian Chapter

A Jewish Aid Worker’s Memoir Of Sorrow

Eli Gumener (trans. Michael Eli Nutkiewicz)

Hosted by Ari Barbalat
Today I talked to Michael Eli Nutkiewicz about his translation A Ukrainian Chapter: A Jewish Aid Worker’s Memoir Of Sorrow (Slavica, 2022).  Eli Gumener’s 1921 Yiddish memoir, A Ukrainian Chapter, is …
Eastern European Studies October 25, 2022

Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Europe

A Discussion with Monika Nalepa

Monika Nalepa

Hosted by Keith Krueger
An alienated society divided into groups and classes suspicious of one another does not pose an especially great problem for an authoritarian regime that does not legitimize itself through fair …
International Horizons October 24, 2022

A Most Similar Comparison: The Authoritarianism of Poland and Hungary

A Discussion with Edit Zgut-Przybylska

Edit Zgut-Przybylska

Hosted by International Horizons
The leadership of Hungary and Poland seemingly shared the same playbook when it came to undermining judicial independence, consolidating electoral power, regulating media ownership and enacting laws against LGBTQ rights …
Writ Large October 14, 2022

On Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"

A Discussion with Maya Jassanoff

Maya Jassanoff

Hosted by Zachary Davis
Joseph Conrad, who published 20 books and several best-sellers by the time of his death, was also a sailor. Heart of Darkness follows seaman Charles Marlow’s journey down a river …
Eastern European Studies October 11, 2022

Comics and Nation

Power, Pop Culture, and Political Transformation in Poland

Ewa Stańczyk

Hosted by Roland Clark
Comics and Nation: Power, Pop Culture, and Political Transformation in Poland (Ohio State UP, 2022) offers a fresh perspective on the role of popular culture in the one-hundred-year history of …
Writ Large September 9, 2022

On Maciej Miechowita's "Treatise on the Two Sarmatias"

A Discussion with Michael Tworek

Michael Tworek

Hosted by Zachary Davis
In Treatise on the Two Sarmatias, Polish scholar Maciej Miechowita argued that two mountain ranges that were described on maps dating back to antiquity did not, in fact, exist. This …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones August 30, 2022

The Future of the European Union

A Discussion with Luuk van Middelaar

Luuk van Middelaar

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
The Brexit debate has been so all-consuming and filled with so much misinformation that many Brits and others can overlook some the challenges facing the European Union itself. Looked at …
Human Rights August 24, 2022

Building Trust and Democracy

Transitional Justice in Post-Communist Countries

Cynthia M. Horne

Hosted by Lavinia Stan
It has become both a normative expectation as well as a practical policy recommendation that context-specific transitional justice measures are needed to repair the state and society following a conflict …
Ukrainian Studies July 26, 2022

Making Ukraine

Negotiating, Contesting, and Drawing the Borders in the Twentieth Century

Olena Palko and Constantin Ardeleanu

Hosted by Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed
Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine have brought scholarly and public attention to Ukraine's borders. Making Ukraine aims to investigate the various …
Eastern European Studies June 23, 2022

Jozef Pilsudski

Founding Father of Modern Poland

Joshua D. Zimmerman

Hosted by Piotr Kosicki
In the 1920s, Józef Piłsudski was a household name not just in Poland, but across Europe and across the Atlantic Ocean as well. Yet this complex and contradictory figure – …
Arguing History June 21, 2022

Ukrainian Nationalism in Historical Context

A Discussion with John-Paul Himka, David R. Stone, and Alexander Watson

John-Paul Himka, David R. Stone, and Alexander Watson

Hosted by Charles Coutinho
In the midst of the ongoing war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, it is vital that the lay-educated public understand the historical origins of the conflict. It is with …
General History June 3, 2022

Eastern Europe!

Everything You Need to Know about the History (and More) of a Region That Shaped Our World and Still Does

Tomek Jankowski

Hosted by Lia Paradis
Prime Minister Pierre Eliot Trudeau once gave a press conference while visiting Washington, during which he famously said: "Living next to [the United States] is in some ways like sleeping …
Jewish Studies May 26, 2022

Unsettled Heritage

Living Next to Poland's Material Jewish Traces After the Holocaust

Yechiel Weizman

Hosted by Amber Nickell
In Unsettled Heritage: Living Next to Poland's Material Jewish Traces After the Holocaust (Cornell UP, 2022), Yechiel Weizman explores what happened to the thousands of abandoned Jewish cemeteries and places …
Jewish Studies May 25, 2022

Polish Jews in the Soviet Union (1939-1959)

History and Memory of Deportation, Exile, and Survival

Katharina Friedla and Markus Nesselrodt

Hosted by Amber Nickell
The majority of Poland’s prewar Jewish population who fled to the interior of the Soviet Union managed to survive World War II and the Holocaust. Polish Jews in the Soviet …
International Horizons May 19, 2022

The Polish Response to the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

A Discussion with Rand Richards Cooper

Rand Richards Cooper

Hosted by International Horizons
Some 12 million Ukrainians – a quarter of the population -- have been forced to flee their homes or their country as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine …