[ Erinnerung | Memory ]

The ZEIT-Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius in Cooperation with the Willy-Brandt-Center of the University of Wrocław announced a Call for Applications for a Summer School (taking place in Wrocław/Poland between 15-24 July, 2005) on the topic History Takes Place: European Sites of Memory.
Announcement:

The historical memory of Europe is bound in a special way to places: history takes place. If there is a guardian spirit (Genius) of Europe, then it has crystallized itself not least in its cities. It has formed distinctive faces for each era. Europe revolves in a certain regard around its metropolises, which are points of maximal concentration of all that constitutes civilizations and their history. Life, fantasy, and memory revolve around them. Europe is also a landscape of memory. (Karl Schlögel)

The ZEIT-Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Buceris will offer young humanities students from Europe and the USA the opportunity to analyze European sites of memory in a series of courses. These courses intend to represent the "spectrum of central and eastern Europe" (H. v. Keyserlingk) by reading its metropolises as topoi of memory and history. This course aims to internationalize and connect fields of the humanities with an interest in history and invites not only young historians, but also art historians, literary scholars, ethnologists, and sociologists working in history to summer courses on location - history takes place.

In 2005 the ZEIT-Foundation in cooperation with the Willy-Brandt-Center of the University of Wrocław will make it possible for graduate students, Ph.D. candidates, and Postdocs to participate in a summer course in Wrocław (Breslau) in the context of their summer course series, "History Takes Place: European Sites of Memory." Wrocław, which was subjected to a forced population exchange after the second world war, represents the fate of countless villages and cities of central and eastern Europe. Wrocław is an exemplary place for the "Century of Expulsions", for the excesses of nationalism, for the experience of flight, expulsion, and new beginnings in a foreign land, for the loss of a homeland, and uprooting. If one looks for a place to experience in condensed form the drama of Europe in the 20th Century, one will find it in this city. But today's Wrocław also manifests serious efforts to remember the common ground of European history and thus to make a new beginning in the Europe that is growing together. The city on the Oder is, in this regard, a European site of memory par excellence.

This ten-day summer course, led by Dr. Gregor Thum (University of Pittsburgh, USA), will reflect on Wrocław's dramatic history in the 20th Century and follow its traces in the topography, architecture, and monuments of the city. The guiding themes of this interdisciplinary- oriented summer course are outlined in the attached report. Each topical presentation and city excursion will include presentations from eyewitnesses and specialists.

Requirements for Participation and How to Apply:
The selection of participants will be based on individual applications as well as on recommendations of recognized scholars in the field. Prerequisites for application are an advanced knowledge of modern Polish and German history, interest in the historical phenomenon of the city, as well as an interest in this topic that ties into one's own research outside the seminar (MA or PhD thesis, "second book"). Participants need not work on Wrocław in particular, but they should bring a thematic and methodological interest in new approaches and unusual sources. The languages of the course are Polish, German, and English. Reading knowledge in two languages is a prerequisite for application, and the knowledge of all three languages is advantageous. Detailed preparation with the help of course materials, recommended readings, as well as the responsibility to present a report and lead a tour are expected. In assigning the latter, individual interests and specializations will be considered.
There will be a preparatory meeting for the course.

The ZEIT-Foundation will bear the expenses for travel and accommodation and will provide a lump sum stipend, commensurate with the respective financial situations of participants, for on-site cost of living. We intend to publish the results of this summer course.

Suitable candidates are asked to send their application dossier (CV, transcripts, and a proposed research topic) as well as one written recommendation from a scholar in their field to the ZEIT-Foundation (ZEIT-Stiftung, Feldbrunnenstraþe 56, D-20148 Hamburg, Germany) by March 31st, 2005. Information is also available on the homepage of the foundation ort he one of the summer course itself.

For further Informations, please contact:

• Dr. Ingmar Ahl
  Area Leader for Patronage
  ZEIT-Foundation Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius
  
• Dr. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz
  Director of the Willy Brandt Center at the University of Wrocław
• Dr. Gregor Thum
  DAAD visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh