Sites of violence and their communities: Critical Heritage and Memory Studies in Contemporary Post-Holocaust Poland

About the program

This site-based, 3-credit interdisciplinary field school will introduce students first hand to the “social lives” of key sites of Holocaust history and memory in the city of Kraków, Poland (and selected other sites). We will together explore how the state, community groups, and creative practitioners of “memory work,” make use of and (often critically) re-interpret sites of wartime violence for a variety of purposes. We will also consider the effects of a range of forces – from government attempts to legislate memory, to heritage tourism, to natural and environmental factors – on the changing shapes and meanings of memory sites.

Using Kraków as a home base, we will read and discuss key scholarly texts (sometimes with their authors), hear guest lectures, visit historical sites (German Nazi camps, former Jewish districts, monuments, and museums), and meet local artists and activists working to activate and expand Polish memory culture against social and political pressures to forget. We will attend to both conventional and less-commonly acknowledged social and material processes that influence remembering in post-conflict sites, and think about past violence in terms of new social formations and pressures (e.g. ethno-racial diversification and activism, migration and climate crises). The goal of this field school is to transform the way you think about how societies remember.

Professor Erica Lehrer (History, Sociology-Anthropology) will lead the group to a range of historical sites (German Nazi camps, former Jewish districts, monuments, and museums), and meet local artists and activists who have worked to activate and expand Polish memory culture against social and political pressures to forget. We will attend to both conventional and less-commonly acknowledged social and material processes that influence remembering in post-conflict sites.

Program Dates & Courses

Dates: May 30 to June 8 2024

Undergraduate course: HIST 498 Special Topics: Sites of Violence and their Communities

Graduate course: HIST  670/1  Special Topics: Sites of Violence and their Communities

Estimated cost & bursary

Concordia will charge program participants for 3 credits of Concordia tuition and a program fee of  1975$. This fee includes

• Housing (breakfast included)
• Lectures
• Planned fieldtrips,
• Museum entries
• Guided tours

Students are responsible for selecting and paying their transportation to/from Kraków, Poland; mandatory health and travel insurance; most lunches and dinners; spending money; any required travel documents and other miscellaneous expenses associated with travel. Students also pay for purchase of one book (digital course pack with all other readings will be provided).

Bursary:

To offset the costs for students of going abroad, Concordia International offers a bursary to students who qualify. To qualify, you must be a Concordia student enrolled in a Concordia Bachelor’s, Master’s or Doctoral degree program and approved to participate in the field school. 

• Field school applicants do not need to submit a bursary application as it is part of the on-line field school application, and you will automatically be considered for the bursary.
• The bursary will be applied to student accounts. Details on the payment of the bursary will be sent to successful applicants. 

Contact Concordia International if you have any questions on your eligibility for funding.

Accommodations

Students will share accommodations at a hotel in Krakow, yet to be determined.

All information on this website is subject to change without notice; the program is subject to a minimum enrollment of 15 students to take place; and it may be cancelled at any time and for any reason.