Academic research
The “Remembrance and Future” Centre carries out research projects, publishes academic works, and organises conferences, debates and seminars on the recent history of Poland, with particular emphasis on the Western and Northern Territories after 1945 – including the history of Wrocław and Lower Silesia. An important element of the activities carried out by the Centre’s Research Department is the collection of autobiographical accounts of witnesses to history and participants in historical events. The Oral History Archive, with over a thousand hours of recordings, is a valuable resource of unique sources used in the Centre’s projects and made available in the Documentation Centre to all those interested in the past.
From the beginning of its activity, the “Remembrance and Future” Centre has been involved in the development and dissemination of the methodology of oral history in research into the past and documentation of memories of departing generations. Since 2011, it has been supporting scholarly discussion, disseminating the results of the latest research in the field of oral history in Poland and abroad, and making available critical editions of oral history sources by publishing the academic journal Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej (available in printed and digital form at www.wrhm.pl). Specialists from the Centre’s Research Department conduct cyclical (at least twice a year) oral history workshops as well as lectures and presentations for employees of cultural institutions implementing oral history projects, members of non-governmental organisations documenting local history (and other topics), as well as for undergraduate and doctoral students using testimonies of witnesses to history in their research. As part of our cooperation with the Institute of History of the University of Wrocław, in the field of history in the public sphere, we also run an oral history course, and we support academic research with grants and scholarship programmes for young researchers, and from 2021 we have also organised a competition for the best BA and MA theses using oral history methodology.
The Centre also has an academic research library, the resources of which are constantly being enlarged with the latest publications, primarily on the history of the Western and Northern Territories and the history of Wrocław and are available on site to all interested parties.
“Wrocław Rebellion 1980”
Project in progress. Research on the course and circumstances of the August 1980 Solidarity strike in Wrocław was initiated just before the 40th anniversary of this event. Initially, the focus was on the situation at bus depot No. VII in Wrocław, the seat of the Inter-Enterprise Strike Committee. Currently, the research covers the entirety of the strikes in Wroclaw, and it is being conducted on the basis of archival documents and reports of witnesses to history and participants in these events. The project is being carried out by Kamil Borecki ([email protected]).
“Wrocław’s elites”
Project in progress. The aim of the project is to collect accounts from inhabitants of Wrocław who, through their performance of various public functions in the area of local government, science, culture and sport in recent decades, have had a real impact on the life of the city and its inhabitants. The project is being carried out by Dr Ewa Maj ([email protected]).
“Wrocław Tysiąclatki”
Project in progress. The aim of the project is to analyse the process of implementing the programme of building schools in Wrocław to commemorate the 1000th anniversary of the Polish State. The project centres on archival documents, architectural designs, documents of social life and accounts of witnesses to history (designers, former directors and teachers of these schools and students). The project is being carried out by Marcin Musiał (marcin.musiał@zajezdnia.org).
More information: Tysiąclatki
“Handball in Wrocław”
Project in progress. This research project focuses on the handball section of the Military Sports Club “Śląsk” Wrocław (WKS). The aim of the project is to collect accounts from players representing the colours of WKS in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in order to present the history of this multiple Polish championship-winning club from the personal perspective of handball players, as well as to create an archive related to the activities of the team. Among the registered icons of this Wrocław sports section, there are reports by: Jan Milewski, Alfred Wrzeski, Antoni Turkiewicz, Piotr Ruśniok, Andrzej Michalak, Bogdan Kowalczyk, Antoni Przybecki, Bogdan Falęta, Andrzej Sokołowski, Piotr Czaczek, Włodzimierz Frąszczak and Ryszard Konieczny. The results of the project will be presented in a monograph by Ewa Maj, whose publication is scheduled for 2022. The project is being carried out by Dr Ewa Maj ([email protected]).
“Experiences of World War II in Oral History Accounts”
Project in progress. This research project, carried out as part of the wider project “Wrocław and Falstadt will not forget!”, aims to collect several dozen reports of the oral history of Poles who experienced various aspects of totalitarian oppression at the hands of the occupiers during World War II, in particular deportation and forced labour. The project team is led by Dr Katarzyna Bock-Matuszyk ([email protected]).
Millennium Letters (2018–2021)
As part of the project, scientific research was carried out in several dozen archives in Poland and abroad on the letters/invitations issued in 1965 by the Polish episcopate to the episcopates of Europe and the world for the celebration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Poland. The result of the project was a monograph by Wojciech Kucharski, Millennium Letters, Wrocław 2021, containing, inter alia, critical editions and facsimiles of all the invitation letters found.
Project co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the Multiannual Programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017–2022.
“Region or regions? Western and Northern Territories (1945–1989)” (2019–2020)
A research project implemented by institutions associated in the Western and Northern Territories Network (www.szzip.pl), carried out by a team of 30 specialists representing various disciplines from the humanities, the aim of which was to search for an answer to the question of whether (and if so, in what respect) the lands annexed to Poland in the aftermath of World War II form a single, coherent region, or rather a set of smaller regions, linked by the historical experience of the post-war population exchange.
The results of this research will be presented in a multi-author scholarly monograph edited by Prof. Wojciech Kucharski; publication is scheduled for 2022.
“100 100-year-olds for the 100th anniversary” (2017–2020)
The aim of the project was to collect 100 oral history accounts from representatives of the oldest generation of Poles, i.e. people born in 1923 and earlier, and then to attempt to present the last 100 years of Polish history from the perspective of those who had lived through this century. The result of the project was the open-air exhibition Rówieśnicy Niepodległej (Contemporaries of Independent Poland) (also presented online: LINK) and the publication of Rówieśnicy Niepodległej. Sto lat historii Polski z perspektywy najstarszych Polaków, ed. K. Bock-Matuszyk, E. Maj, A. Paprot-Wielopolska, Wrocław 2020.
Project co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage within the framework of the Multiannual Programme NIEPODLEGŁA 2017–2022.
“Grant Oral History” (2011–2019)
A cyclical project aimed at funding academic research conducted by young researchers using oral history sources on topics related to the past and present of the Western and Northern Territories. As part of the allocated micro-grants, scholars register a certain number of reports that supplement the Centre’s Oral History Archive, and which enable the recorders to achieve their research goals. The project has been temporarily suspended due to the covid-19 epidemic.
„Oral History of the Borderlands”
Wrocław, Poland, 7–8 June 2022
Borderlands – both in terms of geography and administration, as well as socio-culturally – are a special type of area experiencing contact with the other, the separate, the alien; a space of coexistence, cooperation, but also conflict. ‘Borderlands’ indicates the existence of a border, real or imagined, but always influencing those who live in its vicinity, regardless of whether they perceive it on a daily basis.
The aim of the conference is an attempt to reflect on the specificity of life in the variously understood frontiers of Europe and the world, both ‘eternal’ and those that arose in the 20th century as a result of global and local conflicts, which were noticeable in oral history accounts, resulting e.g. in changes in administrative boundaries and population migrations.
We invite proposals to present research using the sources and methodology of oral history for the analysis of, inter alia, the following issues:
• home / everyday life near the border
• new and old borderlands
• experience of living at the intersection of regions
• people of the borderlands
• imaginary boundaries (of cultures, worldviews, generations, identities, etc.)
• memory and heritage of the borderlands.
At the same time, the organizers would like to invite proposals reflecting on oral history itself as
a research method used by representatives of various disciplines, and thus situated on the border of various fields of study.
PROPOSALS
The conference will be held in Polish and English (with simultaneous translation).
Proposals in Polish or English should be sent via the form by February 13, 2022. The abstract
should include the scope of use of oral history sources and / or methodologies and a direct
reference to the topic of the conference.
The Organisers will inform Speakers about the acceptance of the proposal by the end of February
2022. Speakers will be asked to send a draft version of their lecture by May 10, 2022, and the texts for
publication by July 31, 2022. The organisers plan to publish the conference texts in the “Wrocławski
Rocznik Historii Mówionej”. Information will also be provided about the remuneration for Authors of articles accepted for publication.
The conference will take place alongside the general assembly of members of the Polish Oral History Society.
Organiser: Ośrodek „Pamięć i Przyszłość”
Partner: Centrum Archiwistyki Społecznej
Patron: ”Wrocławski Rocznik Historii Mówionej”, Polish Oral History Association
CONTACT: [email protected]