Polish Studies at George Washington University

The Institution

The George Washington University, an independent academic institution chartered by the Congress of the United States in 1821, is a private non-sectarian university located in downtown Washington, D.C. less than half a dozen blocks from the White House. The University, which has a student body of 19,000 of which 7,000 are undergraduates, is comprised of 10 schools. The Department of German and Slavic Lenguage and Literatures and that of Political Science in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences and the Elliott School of International Affairs provide opportunities for students to take Poland related courses in the fulfillment of degree requirements.

Poland Related Courses

Slav 151-152 Literature and Culture of the Western Slavs, Part I, II @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A broad overview of the cultural developments in Western Slavic nations (Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks). An interdisciplinary and comparative approach is applied to a wide range of cultural fields, including the history of the region, literature, architecture, visual arts, science, philosophy, and music. The first part of this two-part course covers the period from the ninth century--when the first written manuscripts in Old Church Slavonic appeared--to the middle of the nineteenth century, the end of Romanticism. The second part of this two-part course covers the period from the middle of the nineteenth century--the crisis of Romanticism--to the present.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Ryfa

HIST 113 History of Jews in Christian Europe to the 18th Century @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The position of Jews in relation to church and state; includes discussion of the origins and growth of the Jewish communities of Poland, the upheavals of 1648. Also: organization and self-government of the Jewish community; movements of Jewish spirituality (Philosophy, Kabbalah, German and Polish Hasidism); divisions within Jewish society; the background of emancipation and enlightenment.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Saperstein

HIST 159 The Holocaust @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Analyzes the origins, causes and significance of the Nazi attempt to destroy European Jewry, within the context of European and Jewish history. Related themes: the behavior of perpetrators, victims, and bystanders; literary responses, contemporary implications of the holocaust for religion and politics. The course involves discussion of Warsaw and Lodz Ghettos, their Councils (Judenrate), and deportations therefrom in 1942. Also: extermation and slave labor camps and a consideration of living in Auschwitz.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Saperstein

Language Instruction - Unfortunately, budget cuts at GW have forced suspension all offerings in Czech and Polish as of fall 2003.

Faculty

Ryfa, Juras T. , Assistant Professor of German and Slavic Languages and Literatures

Ph.D., Indiana University - Bloomington 1997
Phone: (202) 994-3104 / Fax: (202) 994-0171. / e-mail: jryfa@gwu.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: 19th Century Russian literature. Born in Lithuania, Juras Ryfa boasts native ability in three languages: Russian, Polish, and Lithuanian.
COURSES

• Literature and Culture of the Western Slavs

Saperstein, Marc , Charles E. Smith Professor of Jewish History @

Ph.D. Harvard 1977
Phone: (202) 994-4780 / Fax: . . . . . . . . . / e-mail: msaper@gwu.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Jewish History
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
COURSES

• History of the Jews in Christian Europe to the 18th Century. It includes discussion of Polish Hasidism

META-FACULTY - Faculty who have studied and/or taught at Polish institutions of higher education

Tuch, Steven A. , Professor of Sociology, @

Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst 1973
Fulbright Fellowship, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University 1997-98
Phone: (202) 994 7466 / Fax: . . . . . . . . . / e-mail: steve@gwu.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Race relations, stratification, inequality, and mobility, public opinion, survey research, quantitative methods
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
PRESENTATION

• "Beliefs about inequality in post-Communist societies: A preliminary look." at Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, 1999

Przytycki, Józef H. , Professor of Mathematics @ @ @

M.Sc., Warsaw University 1977
Ph.D., Columbia University 1981
Phone:(202) 994-6238 / Fax: (202) 994-6760 / e-mail: przytyck@gwu.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Topology, Knot Theory, Algebraic Topology based on knots
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
VISITING PROFESSORSHIP

• University of Warsaw, Mathematics Department, Spring 2000

OTHER

• Member of the Organizing Committee of the July 7-13, 2003, Knots in Poland Conference in Poznan @

Poland-related Resources

Friends of Poland

Friends of Poland at The George Washington University, is a student organization dedicated to exploring the numerous facets of Polish culture. @