History
An understanding of the past is essential for an understanding of contemporary social, political and economic developments, including Poland’s relations and mutual perceptions with other nations.
PiTR’s history program places an emphasis on “applied history,” which is not a simple study of the past, but the past as it affects the present and how it is interpreted in the present. We also emphasize an “integrated history,” the study of Poland not in isolation but within the context of its place in Europe and the international community..
Historian Timothy Snyder quoted in Cosmopolitan Review: “Poland would win a great victory if Polish history could be integrated in European history… Many Poles think Europeans don’t understand them, and that’s true.” Click to article.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski: “Europe will only be united when all Europeans know the history of the entire continent.” He also stated that historian Norman Davies is “the first historian of united Europe.”
