The (Un)learned Lessons of "Kultura": Giedroyc’s Legacy and Present-Day Polish Policy towards Ukraine

Talk by Aleksandra (Ola) Hnatiuk (Warsaw) on the legacy of Jerzy Giedroyć, the long-time editor of the Paris-based exile journal “Kultura”. In cooperation with “Denkraum Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg.

Jerzy Giedroyć (1906-2000) was a Polish writer and political activist in exile in France. For many years, he worked as editor of the highly influential Paris-based periodical “Kultura” (1947-2000). He collaborated after World War II with Ukrainian émigrés to promote Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation. Today, some politicians are attempting to undermine these achievements.

Aleksandra (Ola) Hnatiuk is a historian of East European Modern History, a literary scholar, translator, and former diplomat. She serves as a professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and is professor emeritus at the University of Warsaw. Professor Hnatjuk is a leading specialist of the history of Polish-Ukrainian relations and in particular of the intellectual legacy of the journal “Kultura”. She is the author of several acclaimed publications, including “Farewell to Empire” (Polish, 2005) and “Courage and Fear” (Polish 2015, English 2020). She previously served as Vice President of PEN Ukraine (2018–2022) and has chaired the jury for the Jerzy Giedroyc award for young Ukrainian scholars.

Organized by the Chair of History of Eastern and Southeastern Europe at the University of Regensburg (UR), in cooperation with “Denkraum Ukraine” / “Think Space Ukraine” at the University of Regensburg, financed by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) through the funds from the Federal Foreign Office (AA), the Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies (IOS) in Regensburg, and Philipp Schwartz Initiative of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.