Schindler's Museum, Jagellonian University, & Dr. Jolanta's Lecture-Ann Zelenka

Today we visited the Schinder's Museum and it was quite interesting to see all of the exhibits there.  I thoroughly enjoyed looking at especially the Polish military uniforms: this is more of something that I really wanted to see during this trip. Seeing the uniforms and all of the Polish symbols was really eye-opening and allowed for a further connection to be made regarding all of the relations between the Germans and Polish military. I was able to actually put images in my mind surrounding all of this particularly that of the regalia, the tanks and the pictures of the Polish and German armies in conjunction with some of the experiences that we have been discussing in our lectures.
          I am glad I am able to experience the Polish culture through both food and fellowship as well through my interaction with the Polish graduate students at the Polish restaurant. Eva Gorzynska and I really clicked: we had a lot of common interests and exhanged emails to keep in contact! I am very pleased as this was one of my objectives when I arrived in Poland: was to meet a Polish person so I could further the pursuit of the exploration of my heritage.
           One item of particular interest regarding the class lecture today was Dr. Jolanta Ambrosewicz's Jacob's discussion of Polish nationalism in conjunction with the events surrounding the Shoah and other conflicts during that time. Her response to my question really opened my eyes when she stated that the Polish basically had a sense of national pride long before these events happened and that this is more of what actually contributed to the strong sense of pride for their country. Additionally, fear did have a lot to do with their feelings as well: as they were worried that new immigrants could create problems for their country. However, Dr. Jolanta also stated this national pride was moreso based upon agelong traditions of kings ruling Poland. I was glad that she cleared this up for me during class and I was also quite impressed with her refutation of the idea of collective identity proposed by Maier. At first, I did not agree with her in the respect that she denies Maier's theory of certain groups being unable to empathize with others due to the fact that they are so worried about their own safety and security during mass conflict (Maier). I think that people are able to empathize and to understand others even if they are not of the same background and even if they did not have that opposing group assist them in the time of need. I think that all of as human beings feel similar emotions and share similar experiences and therefore, we are able to empathize in varying but similar ways.