Poland and Poles living in the former
USSR.
Looking for the model of policy
The program is carried out under the auspices of Prof. Alicja Grześkowiak,
the Marshall (President) of the Polish Senate.
The project message
The political changes started in 1998 created a possibility for
the institutions of Poland to give attention to Poles living in the
former USSR. Unfortunately, as it seems, throughout the last years
we have failed to find a rational conception of policy towards our
fellow countrymen. The answers to many fundamental questions have
not been found (for instance, the problem of repatriation of Poles
or ways of bringing help to them in their present homes).
This situation is distressing from the point of view of the Polish
State interest, and at the same time it is embarrassing when we realise
how intensive our Western politics is. And still, the experience of
some countries proves that a rational policy towards Polish Diaspora
in the former USSR not only can be found, but it can also be carried
out.
CPT focused on this problem many times. The project Between Germany
and Russia that has been run since 1996 is a good example. Also, the
CPT members and co-workers were dealing with the situation of Polish
people behind the eastern border in their research projects.
The past experience has motivated us to try to raise this multifaceted
problem. The result was the idea of the project Poland and Poles living
in the former USSR. Looking for the model of policy. We defined its
two goals. Firstly, in the process of wide discussion we want to define
the objectives for the Polish policy towards our fellow countrymen
living in the former USSR. Secondly, in the planned book we are going
to assess a "balance of achievements and failures" of Polish research
on the history and present day of our Diaspora in the former USSR.
The Project Council:
senator Franciszek Bachleda-Ksiedzulorz, Agnieszka Bogucka, prof.
AnDr.zej Chwalba, prof. Bohdan Cywinski, Father Prof. Roman Dzwonkowski,
Prof. Tomasz Gasowski, Prof. Krystyna Kersten, Dr. Antoni Kuczynski,
Krystyna Lachowicz, Dr.. Agnieszka Magdziak-Miszewska, Prof. Jerzy
Pietrzak, Prof. Wojciech Roszkowski, senator Janina Sagatowska, Prof.
AnDrzej Stelmachowski, Father Prof. Edward Walewander, Henryk Wozniakowski,
Prof. AnDrzej Zakrzewski.
Elements of the project
1998