LFU:online

Students deal with new themes in selected key areas. They understand and evaluate them as well as argument with regards to scientific dynamics and trends of the respective key areas. They understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different methodological approaches. They gain competences in independent formulating of questions and argumentations.

The main part of this seminar will take place in Wrocław (Breslau) in Poland from 22 to 29 June 2025 – together with students from Wrocław, Prague, Pardubice and Opava. We will have seminar units in the mornings and will go on excursions in the city of Wrocław and the surrounding area in the afternoon or on individual days.

Two sessions in March in presence and two virtual sessions in April and May prepare for the seminar, which will be concluded by a virtual session after the on-site phase.

Students receive fundings of EUR 79 per day plus a travel allowance, admission to museums and travel costs for excursions around Wrocław through the Erasmus+ programme (Blended Intensive Programme). This covers all costs except for meals.

Due to its history, Silesia is an excellent place to study different cultures of remembrance that are closely linked to other Central European countries and to the current more recent history since 1945.

In the Middle Ages, Silesia came from Poland to Bohemia, in the early modern period to the Habsburg monarchy and, after the partition of 1742, for the major part also to Prussia. After the First World War, the Austrian part of Silesia became part of the newly founded Czechoslovak Republic, which in turn very quickly had to give up another small part to the new Polish Republic. After 1945, the westward shift of Poland also made former Prussian Silesia Polish. This means that the traces of memory and constructions of identity in this area are particularly dense – not only in terms of state affiliation, but also with regard to denomination and religion.

Students from Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria work on these different traces of memory and at the same time exchange views on the cultures of remembrance they have experienced and practised themselves in their different regions of origin. The location of the seminar in Wrocław, the capital of Silesia, is the perfect place and starting point for examining these developments.

The virtual part of the seminar introduces the topic and offers students in small mixed-university teams the first opportunity to get to know each other. After the on-site phase, a final virtual meeting is planned to review and summarise the results.

Theme centered inputs and reading, discussions and oral presentations (partly at the places of remembrance).

Active participation, reading, short exercises, presentation, written final paper.