Solidarity’s Legacy, Then and Now, in Poland and the World | TJHTalks #43

This month marks the 45th anniversary of the formation of Solidarity, the first and only free trade union movement in the entire Soviet bloc. Born of the largest general strike in postwar Europe, Solidarity also became a mass-based social movement with the active participation of one-third of Poland’s adult population. Their dogged quest for freedom, justice and human dignity yielded a victory for democracy in 1989.

The museums and archives that were since created to preserve Solidarity’s inspiring legacy perform a dual function to display this history and to transmit the democratic principles advocated by the Solidarity movement. What have been their challenges and opportunities?

On this special panel with scholars and curators representing three major archives and museums in Poland and the U.S., we will explore how one of Poland’s proudest moments in 20th century history is remembered, interpreted, preserved, and commemorated for current and future generations.

What role does a cultural institution play in shaping how we remember the past? How do collecting strategies enable a museum or archive to contest conventional narratives and focus on new ways of understanding the past? How effective are educational programs in transmitting this important legacy to younger generations so that they carry it forward?

Dr. Katharina Friedla,
Taube Family Curator of European Collections, Hoover Institution, United States

Dr. Justin Jampol,
Director, Wende Museum of the Cold War, United States

Dr. Grzegorz Piotrowski,
Senior Researcher, European Solidarity Centre, Poland

in conversation with

Shana Penn,
Author of Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland

Here is a list of resources recommended by our speakers:

Penn, S. (2005). Solidarity’s secret: the women who defeated communism in Poland. University of Michigan Press.

Kubik, J. (2010). Power of symbols against the symbols of power: The rise of Solidarity and the fall of state socialism in Poland. Penn State Press.

Touraine, A. (1983). Solidarity: The analysis of a social movement: Poland, 1980-1981. (No Title).

Ost, D. (2005). The defeat of solidarity: Anger and politics in postcommunist Europe. Cornell University Press.

Ost, D. (2010). Solidarity and the Politics of Anti-politics: Opposition and Reform in Poland since 1968. Temple University Press.

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Katharina Friedla is a research fellow and the Taube Family Curator for European Collections at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives at Stanford University. She has studied History, East European and Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Free University in Berlin, and received her Ph.D. from the University of Basel, Switzerland. Before her appointment at Hoover Library & Archives, she has been working as lecturer, translator, and scientific advisor for universities and institutions in Germany, Israel, and Poland. Dr. Friedla has published several books and dozens of articles on Holocaust, nationalism, identity politics, and forced migration in twentieth-century Europe.

Justin Jampol is the Founder and Executive Director of The Wende Museum in Culver City, California. He holds degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Oxford University, where he earned a Master of Philosophy in Russian and East European Studies and a Doctor of Philosophy in Modern History. Jampol established the Wende Museum in 2002 to preserve and illuminate the cultural history of the Cold War era, particularly focusing on Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. The museum houses an extensive collection of artifacts, artworks, and archives from this period.

Shana Penn is the executive director of Taube Philanthropies and the author of Solidarity’s Secret: The Women Who Defeated Communism in Poland (University of Michigan Press), which received the Heldt Prize for Best Book in a Women’s History Topic by the Association of Women in Slavic Studies. For this scholarship, she also received a 2020 Medal of Gratitude from the European Solidarity Centre, in Gdansk. In 2013, Shana was awarded the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for both her gender studies research and advocacy for Polish-Jewish relations. She serves on the board of the American Friends of POLIN Museum and is Vice Honorary Consul of the Republic of Poland in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Grzegorz Piotrowski is an assistant professor at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Gdańsk and a senior researcher at European Solidarity Centre in Gdańsk, Poland. His research focuses on radical social movements, civil society, and democratisation in Poland and in Central Europe. He has conducted studies and published on far-right and far-left social movements, their radicalisation, relations with other movements and the political environment they operate in. He is also a vice president of Zatoka, a Polish NGO focused on supporting and conducting research, and organising academic events.