We work on the analysis of recent European history within the wider context of European Civilization, in the conviction that understanding Europe's past helps us to imagine and shape Europe's future. Thanks to the support of the European Union, and in particular the European Parliament, the Natolin campus of the College of Europe in Warsaw created the European Civilization Chair in memory of Profe
ssor Bronisław Geremek †. Mission
The mission of the Chair is to teach and encourage reflection on recent European history within the wider context of European Civilization, in the conviction that understanding Europe's past helps us to imagine and shape Europe's future. This is in keeping both with Professor Geremek's achievements as a medieval historian and the role he played in Poland and in Europe both before and after the fall of Communism. The Chair is at the heart of the new major in European History and Civilization, shaped by the Chairholder Professor Richard BUTTERWICK-PAWLIKOWSKI, who is teaching numerous courses throughout the academic year and supervising Master’s theses. Under the auspices of the Chair, about ten scholarships are offered each academic year to students of history and related subjects interested in taking part in the MA in European Interdisciplinary Studies. Geremek scholars are at the heart of the community of historians at the College. Between 2011 and 2015, the Chair organized a cycle of high-profile Geremek lectures on questions in the history of European Civilization, featuring many world-renowned guest speakers. The Chair also organizes symposia, debates and conferences. A major conference took place in September 2016 on "The Fate of Freedom in Eastern Europe: Autocracy, Oligarchy, Anarchy?". The Chair acquires books and other documents concerning recent European history and European civilization; they form part of the extensive collections of the Natolin campus library. The Chair hosts several post-doctoral research fellows, each for a period of either six or twelve months. The Chair’s flagship research project is now the ‘3R’ oral history project on the three Ukrainian revolutions of 1990, 2004-05 and 2013-14, led by Dr Paweł KOWAL and Prof. Georges MINK, in cooperation with distinguished international partner institutions. In cooperation with the Bronisław Geremek Foundation, the European Civilization Chair awards the annual Bronisław Geremek Prize. The main prize is given to the author of a scholarly work of outstanding quality which has contributed to better knowledge and understanding of European Civilization in all its rich diversity. There is also a second award, for an outstanding first academic book in the field of European Civilization.
