German-Polish Relationship in Focus - Viadrina Award Ceremony and Panel Discussion

On Thursday, June 1, the historian and publicist Prof. Dr. habil. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz the 22nd Viadrina Prize for his outstanding services to German-Polish understanding and the European idea.

The festive award ceremony will begin at 4 p.m. in the Lodge Hall of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), Logenstraße 11. The laudatory speech for the director of the Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wrocław will be given by Basil Kerski, director of the European Solidarność Center Gdansk and editor-in-chief of the German-Polish magazine DIALOG.

Following the award ceremony, the European University Viadrina invites to a panel discussion with the laureate from 5:30 p.m. On the topic "German-Polish relations before the Polish parliamentary elections: Opportunities, conflicts and (joint) crisis management" can be experienced in conversation:

• Prof. Dr. habil. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, Viadrina Prize winner and director of the Willy Brandt Center for German and European Studies at the University of Wrocław
• Irene Hahn-Fuhr, member of the board of the Center Liberal Modernism
• Dietmar Nietan, Coordinator for German-Polish cooperation at the Federal Foreign Office
   

It will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Dagmara Jajeśniak-Quast, Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Polish Studies at Viadrina, and Prof. Dr. Timm Beichelt, Professor of European Studies at the European University Viadrina.

Interested persons are cordially invited to register for the award ceremony and the panel discussion.

When and where?

Thursday, June 1, 2023
4:00 p.m. Award ceremony | from 5:30 p.m. Panel discussion
Lodge Hall of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder)
Logenstraße 11, 15230 Frankfurt (Oder)

Background: The Board of Trustees of the Viadrina Prize Foundation justifies the decision to award the 22nd Viadrina Prize to Prof. Dr. habil. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz to award, saying, "The Viadrina Prize is intended to honor Krzysztof Ruchniewicz as a renowned researcher, committed educator, critical publicist and courageous intellectual who combines historical experience with current perspective."

Prof. Dr. habil. Krzysztof Ruchniewicz has been involved with German-Polish relations since his student years in Wrocław, Saarbrücken and Marburg. For example, he wrote his master's thesis on the joint German-Polish Textbook Commission; this was followed by a doctoral dissertation on political relations between Berlin, Bonn, and Warsaw and a postdoctoral thesis on Polish efforts to make German reparations. In 2002, Krzysztof Ruchniewicz was the founding director of the Willy Brandt Center in Wrocław and has headed it almost continuously since then. He also holds the Chair of Contemporary History at the Willy Brandt Center and is a research associate at the Institute of History at the University of Wrocław.

This year's sponsorship award goes to the project "Literary Translation in German-Polish Cultural Dialogue."At the invitation of the Karl Dedecius Foundation of the Europa University Viadrina, the project has been bringing together German students of Polish studies and Polish students of German studies on the Oder every two years since 2016.