Blog

In support of our Ukrainian neighbors, the Seattle Polish Foundation (SPF) is launching a fundraising campaign: Polish Community Support for Ukraine. All contributions will be donated to Polish Humanitarian Action (Polska Akcja Humanitarna, PAH) in order to support people affected by the war in Ukraine and refugees arriving in Poland.   To donate, go to…
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 Maria Kott Endowed Professorship of Polish Studies at the University of Washington has been established!  We are grateful to all the donors who, over the years, contributed to the Endowment Fund, which reached $362,000 this year. Above all, we thank Ryszard Kott who matched the existing funds up to  $700,000 and pledged to provide additional…
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A lecture by Eric Karpeles February 23, 2022 at 7:00 PM (PT) on ZOOM Józef Czapski (1896-1993) witnessed the tumult of twentieth-century Europe first-hand, as a military officer, art and literary critic, disciplined chronicler of his own experiences, and above all, as a painter skilled at isolating the subtle significance of the everyday. At a…
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Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 6:00PM at the Polish Cultural Center- Dom Polski 1714 18th Ave, Seattle The concert is part of an international tour of the Polish Chamber Musicians’ Association entitled “Music of Polish-Jewish Composers,” visiting Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Paso Robles, and New York from October until December 2021. Performers appearing in…
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A lecture by Prof. Grażyna J. Kozaczka November 17, 2021 at 6:30PM (PT) on ZOOM ABOUT THE LECTURE: This talk, Polish American Women: Writing Her Self, will apply a literary lens to a discussion of identity/self of immigrant and ethnic women. What is it that women fiction writers reveal to us about their Polish American…
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Exhibit in The Allen Library North Lobby on the UW Seattle main campus October 11 – November 19, 2021 Monday through Friday 9:00AM– 5:00PM On the 100th anniversary of Stanisław Lem’s birth, the Seattle Gdynia Sister City Association, the producer of Seattle Polish Film Festival, and the UW Polish Studies Endowment Committee, in collaboration with…
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For more information, go to SPFF Website

A lecture by Prof. Neal Pease October 13, 2021 at 7PM (PT) on ZOOM ABOUT THE LECTURE: Sport has played a significant role in the history of the Polish diaspora in the United States, serving both as an element of ethnic pride, and as an indicator of the acculturation of Polish immigrants and their descendants…
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October 6, 2021 at 7:30PM (PT) on ZOOM In celebration of the Year of Stanisław Lem, Seattle-Gdynia Sister City Association and UW PSEC announce a showing of Hospital of the Transfiguration ( in Polish: Szpital Przemienienia) is an adaptation of Stanisław Lem’s book of the same name. The 1979 film directed by Edward Żebrowski tells…
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September 26, 2021 at 11:00AM (PT) on ZOOM https://washington.zoom.us/j/98784786867 In 2021, the Fulbright Program is celebrating its 75th anniversary (in Poland, the Program has been present for 62 years). Congratulations! University of Washington Polish Studies Endowment Committee is joining this celebration by inviting Justyna Budzik, Ph.D. and Jacek Mikołajczyk, Ph.D., Fulbright Slavic Awardees, to talk…
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Make an IMPACT! Support UW PSEC and other Polish Community’s goals and initiatives through GiveBIG, biggest day of giving of the year. THANK YOU! DZIĘKUJEMY!

Anna Cholewinska, March 24, 2021 at 7:30 PM (PT) on ZOOM ABOUT THE LECTURE: Jan Twardowski (1915-2006) was a Roman Catholic priest and a poet. Even though he first published his poems in the 1930s, he became widely known only in the 1990s. His work was addressed to adults and to children.  The opening line…
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Holocaust Center for Humanity invites to a weekly Lunch-and-Learn Series, every Tuesday 12:00PM – 1:00PM (Pacific Time) on ZOOM. The Series feature children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, notable speakers on timely issues, and historical experts. These programs aim to present perspectives and voices that challenge and inspire people to confront bigotry, racism, and indifference,…
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Prof. Beth Holmgren February 17, 2021 at 6:00PM (PT) on ZOOM https://washington.zoom.us/j/95900652747 About the lecture: Magdalena Grzebałkowska, an award-winning author of Polish reportaż — a fact-based genre in which writers exercise substantial creative license in their subject choices, plotting, style, and self-portrayal — has produced a 21st-century War and Peace strikingly different from and deliberately more…
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On January 22, 2021, we lost our beloved friend Martha Golubiec. Martha has been not only a friend to many of us, but also a pillar of our Polish community.  She promoted Polish history, culture, language, and traditions, contributing greatly to the Pacific Northwest’s ethnic landscape.   Among countless achievements, Martha was a co-founder of the…
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Prof. Natalia Aleksiun-Madrzak November 18, 2020 at 7:00 PM ZOOM registration required (after registration, an event link will be sent) ABOUT THE LECTURE: born in 1912 in Łódź, Sara Ajzensztejn belonged to a cohort of Polish Jewish women who enrolled at Polish universities to study the history of their own community: Polish Jewry. She wrote…
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Maria Rewakowicz, Ph.D. October 19, 2020 at 3:30PM On line via ZOOM In her award-winning book, Maria G. Rewakowicz examines how the dilemmas of Ukrainian identity manifest themselves in the literature of post-independence Ukraine. It asks how various identities — national, territorial, ethnolinguistic, class and gender — are reflected in literary works of the most…
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Reinforces basic grasp of the language and enlarges vocabulary and command of grammatical patterns beyond the sentence level. Pays special attention to oral communication, listening comprehension, and writing. Helps enable students to move from Novice High to Intermediate Mid/High-level on the ACTFL Proficiency Scale. More info

Lecture by Prof. Katarzyna Dziwirek September 9, 2020 at 7:00PM on ZOOM ZOOM registration required(After registration, an event link will be sent) The presentation will trace the history of the Polish word obcy, whose original meaning ofcommon, joint, mutual, societal, collective, communal, or public, has changed over time to mean alien, foreign, or strange, while…
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Lecture by Sarah Zarrow, PhD Forging a New Polish Jewish Woman: The Jewish Girls’ Vocational School of Lwów (Lviv) July 14, 2020 at 7:00 PM Registration required on ZOOM After registration, a link will be sent In the wake of the First World War, civic activist Cecylja Klaftenowa founded the Jewish Girls’ Vocational School in…
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Tuesday, June 9, 2020 at 7:00 PM on ZOOM sign in to Zoom to attend the lecture Do you know which star of the world literature lives in an unbelievably tiny, 48-inch-wide, apartment in Warsaw? Have you heard that Warsaw has its own Mordor? Are you able to imagine a vegan version of a traditional…
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Instructor: Dr. Justyna Zych, Visiting Fulbright Scholar from Polonicum Centre of Polish Language & Culture for Foreigners, University of Warsaw Time/place: T Th 11:30am – 1:20pm; Savery Hall, Room 155 Course description: What stories does a city tell? As the capital of Poland, Warsaw accumulates many important topics, motifs, and symbols of Polish culture. On…
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