by Jolanta Różyło | Jan 6, 2026 | News, News, Seminar
14 January 2026 | Dr. Pawel Duber (PUNO, London)
Deprivation of Citizenship and Diplomatic Fallout: The 6 October 1938 Ordinance in Polish–Swiss Relations, 1938–1940
Following the Anschluss and the failure of the Evian Conference, on the 6 October 1938 Poland issued an ordinance requiring passport revalidation, effectively preventing many Jews from returning. Switzerland responded by tightening visa requirements and expressing concerns over reliability of Polish passports. The paper focuses on the impact of this law on the diplomatic relations between both countries and the role of Tytus Komarnicki, Polish envoy to Switzerland, whose initially liberal stance shifted toward strict enforcement of the aforementioned ordinance. Drawing on previously unused archival sources, the study reveals how both countries navigated through legal, diplomatic, and humanitarian challenges amid worsening geopolitical conditions and after the outbreak of World War II.
Dr hab. Paweł Duber is a historian and lecturer in the Unit of European History at the Polish University Abroad, as well as a history teacher in British schools. He graduated from the University of Silesia in Katowice and has worked at various cultural and academic institutions, including the University of Warsaw, the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), the Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek, and Nottingham Trent University. He earned his PhD in 2009 at the Academy of Humanities in Pułtusk and completed his habilitation in 2015 at the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. His research focuses on the political history of Poland after 1918, 20th-century Central and Eastern Europe, Polish political and military emigration after 1939, the history of diplomacy and international relations, and the politics of memory. He is the author / co-author of several books and nearly one hundred scholarly and popular articles. His most recent book, a biography of the Polish diplomat and lawyer Tytus Komarnicki, is being published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Warsaw.
Polish University Abroad LONDON is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Polish University Abroad History Seminar Zoom Meeting
Time: Jan 14, 2026 18:30 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83685952743?pwd=WTUKHRbyUIb4s3vtVovVRQ7m96asnG.1
Meeting ID: 836 8595 2743
Passcode: 813470
by Jolanta Różyło | Nov 18, 2025 | News, Seminar
10 December 2025 with Jacob Flaws (Kean University, New Jersey, USA)
Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp
Spaces of Treblinka utilizes testimonies, oral histories, and recollections from Jewish, German, and Polish witnesses to create a holistic representation of the Treblinka death camp during its operation. This narrative rejects the historical misconception that Treblinka was an isolated Nazi extermination camp with few witnesses and fewer survivors. Rather than the secret, sanitized site of industrial killing Treblinka was intended to be, Jacob Flaws argues, Treblinka’s mass murder was well known to the nearby townspeople who experienced the sights, sounds, smells, people, bodies, and train cars the camp ejected into the surrounding world.
Through spatial reality, Flaws portrays the conceptions, fantasies, ideological assumptions, and memories of Treblinka from witnesses in the camp and surrounding towns. To do so he identifies six key spaces that once composed the historical site of Treblinka: the ideological space, the behavioral space, the space of life and death, the interactional space, the sensory space, and the extended space. By examining these spaces Flaws reveals that there were more witnesses to Treblinka than previously realized, as the transnational groups near and within the camp overlapped and interacted. Spaces of Treblinka provides a staggering and profound reassessment of the relationship between knowing and not knowing and asks us to confront the timely warning that we, in our modern, interconnected world, can all become witnesses. See https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781496239730/spaces-of-treblinka/
Dr. Jacob Flaws is an assistant professor of history at Kean University in Union, NJ where he teaches on topics in Modern European history, the Holocaust, and global genocide. He is the author of the 2024 book Spaces of Treblinka: Retracing a Death Camp, published by the University of Nebraska Press, as well as several other journal articles and book chapters. Flaws earned his Ph.D. In history from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Topic: Polish University Abroad History Seminar Zoom Meeting
Time: Dec 10, 2025 18:30 London
Join Zoom Meeting
Https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89143105203?pwd=XvDTu3mKCw0BDeuV4JYgyRynlCBsss.1
Meeting ID: 891 4310 5203
Passcode: 679290
by Jolanta Różyło | Oct 30, 2025 | News, Seminar
5 November 2025 with Piotr Maciej Majewski (University of Warsaw)
on ZOOM
The mechanisms of collaboration
This paper focuses on collaboration as a political and social phenomenon. It mainly concerns the Second World War, but it also attempts to answer the question why collaboration with the enemy (collaborationism and other forms) was only recognised and condemned at that time. Through the analysis of various cases of collaboration in Eastern and Western Europe and Asia, I attempt to show the mechanisms that occurred in the relations between the occupiers and the occupied communities. I demonstrate that this phenomenon was perceived and judged in very different ways, and that the assessment could vary depending on the time, place and circumstances.
Piotr Maciej Majewski is Professor of History at the University of Warsaw. His main academic interests are history of Czechoslovakia and Czech lands and the Czech-German relations in 19th and 20th centuries. He has published extensively on the Munich Crisis, prewar Czechoslovakia, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. From 2009 to 2017, Professor Majewski was deputy director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, responsible for development of the permanent exhibition. His latest monograph, Brzydkie słowo na k”. Rzecz o kolaboracji [The Ugly K-Word. An Essay on Collaboration] (Warsaw 2024), explores the phenomenon of collaboration.
Time: Nov 5, 2025 18:30 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81938962052?pwd=yPZGMmf3nYuEmhIrL5NGfCPWMU6TYK.1
Meeting ID: 819 3896 2052
Passcode: 094553
by PUNO | Sep 3, 2025 | News, Seminar
We kindly invite you to the Twentieth Century Polish History Seminar. More about event here.
by admin2007 | Aug 23, 2025 | News
Dr. Magdalena Wanda Zegarlińska
Book launch
Lynchland revisited: Duality as a source of “the uncanny” in films directed by David Lynch.
6pm, Friday 26th September, PUNO Lecture Room, POSK
Step into Lynchland – the world where duality and the uncanny intertwine to create an unforgettable cinematic experience. “Lynchland revisited: Duality as a source of “the uncanny” in films directed by David Lynch” offers an in-depth exploration of these themes, drawing on Sigmund Freud’s theory of “the uncanny” to shed light on the psychological depth of Lynch’s work.
Each chapter considers a different aspect of duality in Lynch’s films – ranging from fear induced by distorted realities, through the concept of the doppelgänger and the dual nature of humanity, to the blurred boundaries between dreams and waking life. The book explores how Lynch’s visions paint the atmosphere of unease, revealing hidden fears lurking in the depths of the human psyche and examines how the motif of the double reflects the complexity of identity and the way that various forms of rebellion – from childhood defiance to existential self-searching – are portrayed in his cinematic universe.
Dr Zegarlińska reveals that duality in Lynch’s work is more than just a source of fear – it is a compelling journey into the subconscious itself, as Lynch draws his viewers into a dark, hypnotic world, where reality bends and inner (often ugly!) truths come to light, making duality a powerful force at the heart of his storytelling.
Dr. Magdalena Wanda Zegarlińska (Unit of Contemporary British Culture, PUNO) specializes in British literature, American film, and cross-continent cultural studies. Her work focuses especially on C.S. Lewis and filmmaker David Lynch. During her PhD studies, she published several articles on Lynch, including analyses of time, alienation, dream symbolism and sexuality in his films. Dr. Zegarlińska has presented her research at international conferences and led academic projects exploring themes such as eschatology, memory and identity. She has taught at the University of Gdańsk, PUNO, and WSB University in Gdańsk and has also contributed to adult education and curriculum development in specialized English courses. Her academic work has been supported by grants and recognized with scholarships and awards. In recent years, alongside her academic work, she has transitioned to the corporate world, where she serves as a coach, tutor and team manager.
Official announcement
by admin2007 | Apr 6, 2025 | News
We warmly invite you
to a special meeting dedicated to a recently published, original and exceptionally engaging book entitled:
ROMANTYZM w dyskursach pedagogiki kultury.
(publisher: Difin)
The authors of this publication are renowned professors from Polish universities, including the University of Warsaw, the Maria Grzegorzewska University, and the Polish University Abroad (PUNO) in London, as well as Polish-British journalists, students, and teachers.
The book encourages reflection on how the great tradition of Romantic culture is understood today and explores various contemporary ways of engaging with it. During the meeting, we would like to present the fascinating diversity of topics addressed in the volume and invite you to join a discussion inspired by the publication.
We invite you
on Monday, April 14 at 4:00 PM
Lecture Hall, Polish University Abroad (PUNO), POSK, Londyn
